The Story of Luminate Medical: Innovating Cancer Care
Luminate Medical, co-founded by Barbara Oliveira, Aaron Hannon, and Professor Martin O’Halloran, emerged from a shared vision to improve the lives of cancer patients by reducing the burdensome side effects of chemotherapy. Barbara, originally from Portugal, brought her expertise as a biomedical engineer and experience from clinical trials to the company. Her journey began during her PhD in breast cancer imaging, where she first observed the challenging experiences of cancer patients. Driven to make a difference, Barbara and her co-founders set out in 2018 to create devices that would help cancer patients manage side effects and maintain a better quality of life during treatment.
Luminate’s flagship devices – the Lily and Lilac – address two of the most distressing side effects of chemotherapy: hair loss and peripheral neuropathy. The Lily device uses innovative compression technology to reduce hair loss, while Lilac alleviates nerve damage in patients’ hands and feet. These devices, designed for comfort and portability, enable patients to wear them throughout and after chemotherapy sessions, allowing them to leave the hospital without delay. The founders conducted extensive research, including hundreds of interviews with patients, doctors, and other healthcare stakeholders, to ensure that these devices would not only be effective but also align with real-world needs.
Building these groundbreaking devices, however, has been fraught with technical, clinical, and regulatory challenges. Each stage, from designing a comfortable yet effective compression system to scaling up clinical trials for regulatory approval, required careful planning and adaptation. “We faced countless challenges in developing devices that could address these needs while being viable for patients and hospital systems,” Barbara shares. Yet, each challenge was a learning experience that brought Luminate Medical closer to its goal.
EIT Health has played a vital role in Luminate’s journey. Their support began with an accelerator programme, where the team gained access to an extensive network of mentors, industry experts, and prospective users across Europe and the United States. The accelerator programme provided the team with the insights they needed to fine-tune the product and connect deeply with their customer base. Through over 100 interviews conducted during the programme, Barbara and her co-founders could pinpoint essential features like portability and comfort, ensuring the devices met the highest standards for patient care.
After the accelerator programme, the team joined EIT Health’s Catapult programme, which helped Luminate Medical further develop its pitch and expand its investor network. This experience offered the team the opportunity to refine Luminate Medical’s message for a wide array of audiences – from investors to potential partners and healthcare providers. Luminate Medical’s success in the Catapult program also won them the prestigious Audience Award, which led to their company logo and congratulatory message being displayed on the Nasdaq Tower in Times Square.
In just a few years, Luminate Medical has grown from a team of three co-founders to a dedicated workforce of over 30, all working toward a shared mission: to help cancer patients live better lives during treatment. With a recently secured Series A funding of $15 million, Luminate Medical is set to continue its journey through clinical trials, with plans to bring their devices to market by 2026. As Barbara says, “EIT Health’s support has been pivotal in helping us reach this point. We are deeply committed to making a difference in cancer care, and EIT Health has helped us take crucial steps forward.”