Million-dollar funding for MedTech startup to shed light on overlooked late effects of cancer treatment

Nerve damage after chemotherapy affects thousands of cancer survivors every year and can lead to lifelong pain and disability. Now a Danish startup is getting new capital to tackle a problem that today is often discovered too late.

Wenemea, together with business partners Medodan Consulting and Cubist, has received DKK 7 million in Eurostars funding to further develop a technology that can measure nerve damage during chemotherapy to reduce the risk of permanent damage. The technology has the potential to help up to 275,000 women in Europe who are diagnosed with breast cancer each year.

Up to half of breast cancer patients who survive the disease develop nerve damage as a result of chemotherapy known as CIPN. For 17%, the pain never goes away. Symptoms can be so severe that ordinary actions like driving a car or using a keyboard become impossible.

Yet today, CIPN measurement is reserved for a few, highly specialized clinics with advanced equipment. This means that the vast majority of patients are only discovered when the damage has become permanent.

That’s exactly the reality Wenemea wants to change.

Measurements close to the patient

The company has developed a compact, decision-support device that can measure the state of peripheral nerves between chemotherapy treatments. By combining the measurements with patient data, the chemo dose can be continuously adjusted, reducing the risk of lifelong nerve damage.

“We just want to bring this product to life because it can make a huge difference for so many people,” says Poul Sohl, CEO of Wenemea.

The Eurostars grant will be used to refine the existing prototype and bring the technology to market in collaboration with Wenemea’s business partners, who contribute hardware and data and AI skills respectively.

According to Poul Sohl, Wenemea has a potential breakthrough in making CIPN measurements available to many more patients.

“With our device, we are on the verge of a breakthrough in preventing serious nerve damage after chemotherapy. Our ambition is that everyone should have access to having their nerves measured if they receive chemotherapy. It can be the difference between a life with – or without – debilitating pain,” he says.

With Wenemea’s solution, measurements can be taken locally, close to the patient, and form the basis for more precise treatment during the course of chemotherapy.

When treatment is over but the disease persists

For Wenemea’s CTO, Martin Nors Skov, the project is about more than technology.

“It means a lot to get up every morning and know that the work you do can make a difference. Many people think that once the cancer is gone, all is well. But for a lot of people, that’s when a new course of the disease starts. That’s why it feels extremely meaningful to work with a technology that can potentially help so many people – even long after they have been declared cancer-free,” he says.

Wenemea has been working on the technology for three years in collaboration with Aarhus University Hospital and has participated in the BETA.HEALTH hospital accelerator for the past nine months. With the new grant, the company is now taking an important step towards clinical use in Europe.