Whole-body thermotherapy boosts conventional cancer treatments. Our technology platform administers an optimal thermal dose. In the first tests this treatment improved treatment response rates and increased survival and quality-of-life. Our method was extensively tested and found to be safe in dogs and minipigs.
The need for improved pancreatic cancer treatments remains high. Despite advances in chemo-, radio- and immunotherapy, the 5-year overall survival hasn’t improved much in the past decades and remains below 5%.
The mechanisms behind the tumors’ reduced sensitivity can be countered by heating the cells. This can be achieved by (whole-body) thermal therapy, a promising supportive measure to conventional therapies. Thanks to the generic mechanism of action, other cancers with a high unmet medical need such as glioblastoma or melanoma are additional targets on our roadmap.
ElmediX introduces long-term whole-body oncothermia.
By bringing the entire body to a temperature of 41.5°C for multiple hours, a cytotoxic effect is achieved, which is stronger in cancer cells. Exposure to heat also increases their sensitivity to chemo- or radiotherapy through a combination of physiological mechanisms.
For a safe and successful treatment, it is essential to accurately monitor and control the temperature throughout the body. ElmediX’ device can precisely regulate the patient’s body temperature combining state-of-the-art thermal sensing catheter data with a proprietary thermal model of the human body.
Building on successful preclinical results obtained through in vitro and in vivo experiments, demonstrating safety and efficacy, a first-in-human clinical trial will be initiated in Q2-Q3 2020.
Our purpose is to improve outcomes for people facing cancer. Our thermal therapy is currently undergoing clinical trials. Find out more about this process and what it means for patients.
John-Paul Bogers (CEO) is Professor in Histology and Cell Biology at the University of Antwerp. He is also the founder or board member of 6 Belgian and foreign (South-Africa) companies (all medical or technology driven).
John-Paul was principle investigator of three large clinical trials on molecular biomarkers, successfully applied for 20 national, industry-funded and international projects (of which 3 EU funded programs). He was promotor of 13 defended PhD students and published > 150 scientific papers.
Johan Van den Bossche (CTO) is a serial entrepreneur. He co-founded Krypton Electronic Engineering and managed the company until its sale in 2005 to Metris (today NIKON Metrology). Since then, he has been involved in several new ventures: LAB Motion Systems (Air bearings), Vesalius Medical Technologies (Bursitis treatment), Xenomatix (Lidar for autonomous driving), Faromatics (Robotics & AI for farm automation, Barcelona), Saint start-up (Start-up Data Analytics, Athens) and Mauhn (AGI).
Johan graduated from KUL as Electrotechnical engineer and worked on a PhD in robotics at PMA, Leuven and NIST, Washington DC.
Geert Everaert (CFO) started his career in a US Multinational Environment (Tenneco Automotive Europe where he grew up to the function of Director of Finance for OE Europe.
Geert successfully contributed to several new ventures. First as CFO at Krypton EE (today NIKON Metrology), then as co-founder of Allegro Investment Fund.
Geert holds a Master in Law and a Master in Economics.
Oleg Rudenko (CMO) studied Electrotechnical Engineering at the Technical University Delft and Medicine at the University of Antwerp.
Oleg worked in anesthesiology at University Hospital Antwerp.
Oleg was Clinical research physician at SGS until he started at ElmediX.
Dr. Michel Janicot holds a Ph.D. degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Paris VII (France) and was Postdoctoral Fellow at The Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, MD. USA).
Michel has over 25 years experience in Oncology preclinical and early clinical pharmaceutical drug development in increasing leadership roles at Rhone-Poulenc Rorer (Sanofi) and Janssen (Johnson & Johnson).
Since 2012, Michel is the founder and Managing Director of JMi ONConsulting, a consulting firm specialized in providing services and guidance for R&D programs in the field of Oncology, Inflammation, Immunology, Fibrosis and Ophthalmology. He is also co-founder and Board member of aPODD, a non-profit foundation focusing on Pediatric Oncology Drug Development. Michel joined ElmediX as Chief Scientific Officer in January 2020.
Finance professional with +25 years of experience in national and international companies, with strong skills in financial accounting, reporting, as well as budget management and business administration.
As a hands-on and achievement oriented person, her focus is on implementing, improving and supporting a functional finance reporting and analysis system, in alignment with the goals and mission of the company.
Carine joined ElmediX in December 2019.
Leen holds a bachelor degree Accountancy and Marketing & Advertising.
She has over 10 years experience in HR and Fin.
Leen has worked 9 years as HR-Fin & Adm Mgr BNL in the IT industry, and the last 5 years as HR Mgr BNL in the Pharmaceutical/Med. Device industry.
Rosanna Finotto is an experienced Management Assistant who has worked in large companies (Douwe Egberts, Grontmij, Puratos, Cheops Technology) over the last 30 years.
Rosanna joined ElmediX in January 2019 in an assisting role to Management Team.
The ElmediX team is supported by an advisory board of thermal therapy experts:
Prof. dr. Ahmad Awada
Prof. dr. Susan E. Bates
Dr. Jacoba van der Zee
Prof. dr. Jaak Janssens
Prof. dr. Mark Dewhirst
dr. ir. Alex Van den Bossche
Contact information
Zeutestraat 2B
B-2800 Mechelen
Belgium
+32 (0)15 26 29 81
Researchpark Haasrode
Esperantolaan 4
B-3001 Leuven
Belgium