Dilon Company Update

The successes that Dilon has celebrated, and the milestones attained in 2016, have set a strong foundation that has helped propel us into 2017. We continue to build on the early successes that we have had in 2017, as we leverage our recent funding round, new web presence and add fresh perspectives to our management team: always striving to better patient outcomes and answer the question – “Did we get it all?” – for breast cancer surgeons and their patients.

The Wall Street Journal: If Surgery Got Cancer in One Try

In early February Lucette Lagnado, healthcare special reporter for The Wall Street Journal wrote, “A new device may hold the promise of eliminating an anguishing part of many breast-cancer surgeries: a follow-up operation to remove lingering cancer cells. Several surgeons are using a tool that shows promise in reducing the number of repeat procedures.

Freya Schnabel, director of breast surgery at NYU Langone’s Perlmutter Cancer Center, says the device, which allows a surgeon to check for malignant cells and remove them immediately, could make breast-cancer surgery far more efficient and effective.”

We are grateful to our friends and colleagues, especially Jim Mandler, senior director for media relations at the NYU Langone Medical Center, Dr. Schnabel, Dr. Police, Dr. Reid, Amber Guth, Ms. Mosca and the balance of the MarginProbe team who helped make this phenomenal awareness opportunity possible. Read more from The Wall Street Journal on the benefits of using MarginProbe here.

Dilon Announces $12.3 Million Funding Round

We are pleased to announce that we recently closed a $12.3 million funding round! The investment round was led by Canepa Healthcare, ATON Partners, and the Kraft Group. It is the ability of Dune to establish a new standard of care with MarginProbe System and to further develop our RF spectroscopy platform into other applications that has generated the confidence of new and existing investors.

“ATON Partners, led by Patrick Sullivan and Dan Levangie, are excited to support Dilon as they capitalize on their RF spectroscopy platform not only in breast cancer surgery, but in developing the technology to improve disease assessment in other, often difficult cancers,” said Daniel Levangie, Managing Partner of ATON Partners. “Our investment presents an opportunity for the company to continue its important development work, and in the near-term to fund key strategic initiatives which support MarginProbe access, such as gaining coding and payment.”

Read the entire announcement here

Our recent $12.3M investment round was highlighted by quite a few outlets: MassDevice, FierceBiotech, and the Atlanta Business Chronicle to name a few. Read the latest coverage from the funding release below.

Dilon raises $12M to take RF Spectroscopy technology beyond breast cancer

Medical device company raises $12.3 million, plans move to Atlanta

Latest Surgeon Spotlights

It is because of champion physicians across the globe, that we are able to do what we do and we love to tell their stories. We recently added a couple new surgeon spotlights to the website.

Dr. Molly Sebastian

Dr. Molly Sebastian had very personal reasons for becoming a breast surgeon. “My mom went through breast cancer treatment while I was in physical training and this was a big contributor to why I choose this specialty,” she shared. “My mother’s surgeon ended up becoming my partner for 8 years and that relationship shaped a lot of what I do today in my approach to care for patients.”

Dr. Sebastian shared why she is so optimistic about the future of breast cancer surgery, including factors such as recent improvements in safely sparing women from axillary lymph nodes dissection, and the ability to better target chemo and other therapies in a way that makes major advances in long-term care outcomes.

Dr. Annabel Barber

Dr. Annabel Barber shared with us her experiences with MarginProbe and how RF Spectroscopy is now playing such an essential role in a new approach to fighting breast cancer.

Dr. Barber summarizes the value of MarginProbe this way: “Some of these examples are odd cases, but I always get odd cases. The big picture is that MarginProbe gives me the confidence to tell my patients that they can make plans. That we are probably going to be finished with their lumpectomy during this (first) operation.” Read the full spotlight here.

Dr. Joseph Contino

After years of treating breast, colon and thyroid cancers, Dr. Contino decided to specialize in treating various breast-related diseases using less invasive technologies such as breast ultrasound, stereotactic imaging, cryotherapy, and other new technologies like MarginProbe.

After using MarginProbe on a weekly basis for a year, Dr. Contino has a strong opinion on its performance. “If you have a large volume of patients, you’re going to want to use MarginProbe on every case,” he declared. “I have a number of cases where I might have just removed the specimen based on what the imaging showed, but MarginProbe told me to actually take more tissue. In my opinion, MarginProbe is a very effective tool and with clear benefits to the patients.” Read the full spotlight here.

Results from the UK NHS study on surgical margins with MarginProbe

In mid-2016, we announced the first patients had been enrolled in a UK National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) subdivision of the National Health Service (NHS) sponsored research study on surgical margins in breast conserving surgery using Dilon’s groundbreaking MarginProbe breast-cancer surgical assessment device.

The 18-month randomized, prospective, double-arm study led by Dr. Nigel Bundrud is currently examining the health, cosmetic and financial impact of MarginProbe for 460 patients enrolled at six specialty breast unit sites across the UK. Stay tuned for the results.

There is much more to come as we foster additional research and continue to develop new devices including our RF spectroscopy device for biopsy, recipient of an EC 2020 Horizon grant in 2016. To stay up to date with the latest Dune updates and MarginProbe news, follow us on Linkedin and Twitter! If you would like to know more about Dilon and MarginProbe, contact [email protected].

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