Cancer therapy company Prothea Technologies, presents first in-human study results

Prothea span out of the universities of Edinburgh and Bath in 2025 with two technologies promising to see and treat lung cancer in one hospital visit.

The Precision Lung feasibility study prospectively enrolled 21 patients undergoing clinically indicated bronchoscopy for suspected lung malignancy. The investigational imaging system combined a single-use 1.9 mm-diameter Eyes on Target imaging and access catheter with KronoScan™ label-free molecular imaging.

The principal end points were safety, procedural success and change in molecular signature at a malignant lesion, measured with Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy (FLIM).

A significant change in the molecular signature was observed in 17 out of 18 of the malignant lesions, replicating the findings of the published pre-clinical research.

Imaging was successfully acquired at the target lesion in every patient scoped, across all regions of the lung, with no device-related adverse events. FLIM imaging added less than five minutes to each procedure.

In one case, a Rapid On Site Evaluation (“ROSE”) was successfully completed, confirming a viable biopsy sample ex vivo; and establishing the principle of dual use of a single catheter. And while most patients were treated under local anaesthetic, one patient was treated under general anaesthetic, and a cryobiopsy was successfully performed. Two patients had benign disease and one patient was not imaged.

The findings were presented by Dr Adam Marshall, Consultant Physician in Respiratory Medicine at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and Principal Investigator, at the 9th Annual Conference of the American Association for Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology, on August 21.

Find out more