Check-Cap plans to introduce its ingestible imaging capsule in the European Union in late 2013, subject to CE Mark regulatory approval. The company also is in discussions with the United States Food & Drug Administration concerning appropriate clinical activities to support approval to market the product in the United States.
"We are pleased to have GE be a new investor and collaborator," said Guy Neev, chief executive officer of Check-Cap. "GE's investment is an acknowledgement of the patient need we are addressing as well as the clinical promise of our technology. Colon cancer is the most deadly, preventable cancer that patients currently experience. Our goal is to reduce patient mortality by facilitating dramatically increased patient adherence with the physician screening recommendations, allowing earlier detection and treatment. GE's experience in the imaging space will be a significant contribution to our efforts as we progress in our clinical and regulatory program towards commercialization."
The GE healthymagination Fund is part of GE's $6 billion healthymagination initiative, a global commitment to deliver better healthcare to more people at lower cost, GE reported. The fund targets three broad areas for investment:
- Broad-based diagnostics, including imaging, home health, patient monitoring, molecular diagnostics, pathology, novel imaging agents and other technologies for disease diagnosis.
- Healthcare information technology, including electronic medical records, clinical information systems, healthcare information exchanges and value-added data services.
- Life sciences, including tools for drug discovery and biomedical research, and technologies for manufacturing of biopharmaceuticals and vaccines.
The fund draws on capabilities from across GE Healthcare, GE Capital and GE Global Research, and has a global footprint. For further information about the fund, visit www.healthymaginationfund.com.
GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care.
Check-Cap is a medical device company focused on the development of gastrointestinal imaging devices. The company's lead product is an endoscopy capsule which utilizes proprietary, low energy X-ray-based measurement technology to safely generate high-resolution 3-D imagery of the colon without cleansing or other aggressive bowel preparation, the companies reported.
