Veran Medical Technologies Product Gets FDA OK

Veran Medical Technologies in St. Louis said Tuesday it received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to market a product used in the diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer.

President and Chief Executive Jerome Edwards said Veran’s SPiN DriveSystem, which is used for the delivery of instruments through the pulmonary tract, fills “a huge unmet clinical need.” Veran said its product acts as a GPS-like system to enable pulmonologists and surgeons to immediately diagnose malignancy at earlier stages.

Even without formal lung cancer screening, it is estimated that more than 6 million pulmonary nodules are found each year in the U.S. on chest CT scans, the company said.

Veran Medical Technologies is a privately held medical device company led by a team of ex-Medtronic innovators focused on developing equipment for minimally invasive delivery of interventional oncology therapies. Last year, the company moved from Nashville to St. Louis and secured $4.75 million in venture capital and private financing. St. Louis-based venture capital firm Prolog Ventures led the round of financing and was joined by other private investors, including Advantage Capital Partners.