Concure Oncology has raised $2.5 million in new capital for breast cancer treatment that uses radioactive seeds to prevent tumors from growing.
With the new funding, announced last week, the Mercer Island-based startup has now secured more than $12 million with the most recent contribution coming from nearly 25 investors, including Chris Ackerley, managing director at Ackerley Partners, and Jeff Wright, chair of the Space Needle’s board.
This new round of funding aims to double the company’s field sales organization and focus on training new clinicians across the country in making its Breast Microseed Treatment available for women with early-stage breast cancer.
“This new financing marks an exciting inflection point for the team at Concure Oncology as well as the patients that we treat, now and moving forward,” said Kevin Kelley, chief financial officer of Concure Oncology, in a news release. “Combined with the team of clinical experts that we’ve brought on in the last year and recent major shifts in treatment and therapy, women dealing with breast cancer now should have a much more optimistic path forward.”
The treatment works like this:
- After a tumor is removed, small titanium seeds filled with radioactive palladium are placed in the patient’s body where the tumor used to be.
- These seeds, which are about the size of a rice grain, release a small amount of radiation in the former tumor area, killing any cancerous cells that remain and prevent any new ones from growing.
- This type of treatment is known as brachytherapy, which compared with traditional radiation, provides a more targeted approach with treatments administered in a single visit.
The Breast Microseed treatment first became available in the U.S. at the Swedish Cancer Institute in 2016. Former CFO Kevin Kelley took over Concure Oncology early in 2018, according to his LinkedIn. Kelley co-founded the company in 2014 with former CEO Sandra Roem and Dr. Ralph Pascualy, a former physician and executive at Swedish Hospital in Seattle. The company has 12 full-time employees.
