Innovate UK awards £1.4m grant for soft tissue tumour treatment

Ablatus Therapeutics has been awarded £1.4 million by Innovate UK to develop its minimally-invasive treatment for soft tissue tumours.

The award will fund a two-year project to develop the prototype device into a final version for use in patients for the first time.

Partnering with Cambridge-based product engineering and design specialists eg technology, and Addenbrooke’s Hospital, the grant will enable Ablatus to push forward with gathering clinical data needed for CE mark, commercial launch and ultimately to reach patients.

By using Bimodal Electric Tissue Ablation (BETA), an energy-based alternative to open surgery, the device offers a, cost-effective and efficient approach to destroying abnormal tissue, such as tumours, in situ and without major surgery. This alternative to existing tissue ablation techniques could allow the ablation of previously untreatable tumours, while improving patient outcomes and providing greater clinical options. 

News of this latest grant follows a period of growth since Ablatus was founded in October 2015, spun out of Norfolk & Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, with support from NHS innovation hub Health Enterprise East (HEE) and £125,000 of funding granted by The MedTech Accelerator, the joint funding venture led by HEE. Ablatus is also backed by Mercia Asset Management PLC through the Northern VCT Funds. 

The company has also recently been named in the new ‘21towatch’ list, representing the most innovative companies across Cambridge and the East of England that are on the path to becoming industry game-changers locally, nationally and globally.

Chief medical officer and interim CEO of Ablatus Therapeutics, Dr Natalie Hayes, said: “This is an enormous opportunity for Ablatus to build on the important work we have already done to complete development of what will be a game-changing treatment for patients with tumours. We are especially pleased to be able to bring this exciting new technology to local patients here in Cambridge, when we start our first clinical study in Addenbrooke’s Hospital.”