SurgMark GmbH

Side effects of breast cancer treatment are terrifying. Marking the lesion instead of jumping into treatments showed to be a reliable alternative to decide when or whether or not to treat a patient, the number of marking has increased dramatically in the last years. The available markers are however not ideal, since they are mostly metal based, causing pain, migrating and offering poor imaging. SurgMark has developed SchurSign which is soft like gelatin, causing no pain, it doesn't migrate, perfectly visible by ultrasound and biodegradable.

The prototype was developed with the funds of the founders. We are closing a first round of finance of 330k EUR convertible notes by private investors (INVEST program).
These initial fund will bring us to start the approval process in the US. We need more funding in order to start commercialization right after approval, while running the European approval process.

SchurSign will enter the rapidly growing (CAGR 11%) global market for breast lesion localization tools, expected to hit the Billion $ threshold in 2024.
It is noteworthy to mention that our marker is not limited to breast cancer, but can be easily applied in prostate, lung or any another cancer where marking can be used as an alternative.
The potential market for biopsy of lung, breast, prostate and liver cancer together is around 0.6 B€.

Excluding nonmelanoma skin cancers, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. There are 2 million cases of breast cancer per year, worldwide. Tumors are detected much earlier, because of mammography screening programs.
In order to avoid the typical side effects of breast cancer treatment, less invasive methods are sought after.
Tissue biopsy markers offer an excellent alternative.
However both doctors and patients are not happy with the commercially available markers, since they are metal-based which can cause pain, they can migrate and are poorly visible under ultrasound imaging.

SurgMark has developed an innovative marker, called SchurSign which is soft like gelatin, causing no pain, it doesn't migrate, perfectly visible by ultrasound and in the end is biodegradable.
Because of its soft and hydrogel-like structure our marker doesn't cause pain, nether moves from the implantation site. Moreover its design provide an excellent visibility under ultrasound as well as other common techniques such as mammography, MRI or CT.

Main competitors in the field of tissue marking are:
Hologic,
Cook Medical,
Argon Medical Devices,
C. R. Bard (BD),
SOMATEX Medical Technologies,
Mammotome (Devicor Medical Products),
Sysmex

As mentioned before, almost all products are metal-based devices. Which means they are permanent, not ideal for ultrasound, may migrate and pontentially cause pain.
SchurSign® is always very easily identifiable for doctors irrespective of the imaging technology used and their experience.
SchurSign® will help reduce costs of breast cancer care by helping to avoid overtreatment and unnecessary surgeries.
SchurSign® is soft like gelatin, it means it doesn't cause pain, it doesn't migrate and it doesn't interfere with any cutting device used during surgery.

Our marker can be sold at the same price as the competition.
Initial sales will be US, Israel and South Africa. After that we will enter Europe, Australia, China and South America.
By our estimates we acquire 5% of the market in the first 5 years of commercialization.

We will initially use distributors to enter the market before creating our own sales force.
Sales are done directly to clinics and hospitals.
Since some key opinion leaders in Germany have already shown interest in using our product, obtaining their support for the use of our device will be a sure sign of quality and therefore a driving force to gain more doctors to apply our innovative technology.
We have also started to interview doctors in the US and they all showed interest in using a new marker that overcome the drawbacks of the existing metal based products.
Gaining major clinics and key opinion leaders are the most important metrics for initial commercialization.

Money will be used to run the European approval and initial market roll out in the US.

Up to 30% equity in SurgMark at conversion (current pre-money evaluation is 2.69 MEUR)

The biggest risks are related to regulation for medical devices. In case more expensive tests started to be demanded by regulatory bodies. More money would have to be raised to cover these extra costs.

No. All members of the management team are experienced entrepreneurs and scientists in the medical field.

3rd place at the She Loves Tech - Berlin - 2019.
2nd place at D-Health - Düsseldorf - 2019
3rd Place at Venture.Medin - Essen, 2019
TEC China Challenge Finalist 2020, placed #1 from Europe in finals at Shenzen - 2020.

PCT/DE2016/20053