Company Featuring Kellogg Students Develops New Cancer Treatment
The following article was originally sourced from the news piece “Beating the Odds,” published on Kellogg’s News & Events page.
Medical-device startup Innoblative has changed the game in the treatment of breast cancer. The eight-member company, which includes five students from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, medical, engineering and law schools, has developed a disposable, radiofrequency ablation (RFA) probe that uses thermal energy to treat a surgical cavity, such as that made after removal of a breast tumor.
Most recently, Innoblative won the first-place prize at the BioMedical Engineering Innovation, Design, Entrepreneurship award at the Medical Device Excellence Awards in New York. This is just the latest in a long list of honors, grants and business competition wins— the student-led company has won 11 awards, totling net earnings of $200,000.
The device allows surgeons to perform an intra-operative procedure that eliminates residual potentially cancerous tissue in just minutes whereras current treatments require patients to receive daily radiation for five to seven weeks, Furthermore, the current process is costly, time-consuming and potentially dangerous with at least 1-in-5 patients needing an additional operation due to inadequate treatment.
As a next step, the company is focusing on raising investment capital and partnering with a design firm to “further advance the device along the path to commercialization,” said CEO Tyler Wanke.
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Max Pulcini
Max Pulcini is a Philadelphia-based writer and reporter. He has an affinity for Philly sports teams, Super Smash Bros. and cured meats and cheeses. Max has written for Philadelphia-based publications such as Spirit News, Philadelphia City Paper, and Billy Penn, as well as national news outlets like The Daily Beast.
