🔒With $8M raised, Farmington startup CytoVeris ready to test its cancer detection technology

In just three years, Farmington-based medical device company CytoVeris has gone from a small startup with the goal of helping surgeons better detect cancer, to a company that’s raised $8 million and hired 19 employees, with plans to add six more in the year ahead.

More importantly, its cancer detection device has made strides; a feasibility study is scheduled to take place in the spring, while clinical trials could start in early 2023, company officials said.

CytoVeris — which is headed by President, CEO and co-founder Alan Kersey, a Wales native who was trained as a scientist and has a Ph.D. from the University of Leeds in Great Britain — even caught the eye of U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut), who recognized the company as an “Innovator of the Month” in May 2021.

At the heart of CytoVeris’ growth, and why it’s raised millions of dollars and is in the process of doubling that funding total over the next year, is TumorMAP, an imaging tool that aims to assist surgeons in removing cancer tissue with greater precision, therefore allowing for better patient outcomes.

The point of Cytoveris’ technology is to help doctors remove all cancer cells during surgery, while leaving intact as much normal tissue as possible, creating so-called “clean margins” that are particularly important for breast cancer patients — the startup’s targeted market at the outset.

Kersey said his company’s ultraviolet-light technology would compete with existing surgeon tools that aren’t as effective in probing deep tissue.

“Ultimately, we are trying to help a surgeon do a better job in terms of improved cancer outcomes,” he said. “There is at least a 20% to 25% chance that a patient is told by a surgeon that they did not get all of the cancer out and that there would be repeat surgery. We want to eliminate that.”

So far, CytoVeris’ primary funders are Branford venture capital firm Cycle Ventures Partners and Connecticut Innovations, the state’s quasi-public venture fund.

The startup is also working with the pathology departments at Yale’s Smilow Cancer Center and Hartford Hospital to help analyze breast cancer specimens.

“We have definitely developed a system for breast cancer, in particular [the surgical removal of breast tissue lumps],” said Kersey, a 65-year-old Glastonbury resident who provided a tour of his company’s office at the UConn Technology Incubation Program campus in Farmington.

CytoVeris currently occupies 2,500 square feet there, including one large laboratory and four offices.

Ultimately, CytoVeris’ goal is to sell its TumorMAP technology to healthcare facilities across the country, but its product still needs to go through a feasibility study and then clinical trials.

“That’s the next phase,” Kersey said. “Does it really do what we claim? Is it really able to detect cancer on those specimens precisely and accurately in accordance with what the pathologists have seen?”

If all goes as planned, Hartford Hospital will lead a clinical study of the device, during which time it will be used in an operating room.

More money, more space

While the main focus of TumorMAP is breast cancer, there are also plans for it to potentially help with bladder cancer detection and head and neck cancer.

In addition to being seen as an innovator, TIP leadership says Kersey also does a standout job in raising much-needed research funds.

“Alan is a great manager and he surrounds himself with talented people,” said Paul Parker, TIP director. He also has a knowledge of raising funds. He is the key person in raising money for the company.”

CytoVeris has been actively raising money. It was recently awarded a $400,000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIA) grant from the federal government that will go toward bladder cancer research.

It also raised $3.5 million in October from Cycle Ventures, which has committed to an additional $2.5 million investment. Meantime, Connecticut Innovations, Kersey said, is closing in on a $1 million investment.

CytoVeris is using the funding to grow its staff, which includes experts in biology and physics, bioengineering, marketing, clinical management, and data science, among others. It will also be hiring this year its first-ever director of quality.

While Kersey said he expects Farmington to be his company’s home base for at least another 12 months, it will eventually reach a stage where the flexible workspace environment is no longer viable.

There are currently 38 startup companies based out of UConn’s Farmington TIP campus.

If CytoVeris moves, Kersey said he’s committed to remaining in Connecticut.

Looking ahead

While the road has looked promising for the three-year-old startup, the pandemic caused some headaches.

“The pandemic created a slowdown of sorts,” Kersey said. “We closed for a while [from March 2020 to Sept. 2020], but our engineers and researchers responded. They were working on the development of a prototype at the time that was to go to Yale, but they took home the equipment. Their kitchen tables and dining tables became workshops and labs.”

Clinical research studies that were ongoing at Hartford Hospital and Yale’s Smilow Cancer Center had to be paused.

Looking ahead to the future, Kersey said if all goes well, his startup’s product could hit the market in about five years.

Shorter term, Kersey said he wants to create a partnership with a robotics developer so “we could integrate our system into theirs.”

“The world is changing and the operating room will become increasingly robotic over the next decade,” he said. “You will see a growth in the number of procedures that will be done robotically.”