Thericon and the EIC Accelerator: Cancer Imaging Cut Short
Thericon set out to cut the number of bladder tumours surgeons miss during endoscopy, which its EIC project linked to cancer coming back. The company, founded in Mannheim in 2019, developed rMSI, real-time multispectral imaging: a light source and dual-sensor camera that show normal colour, blood vessels and fluorescent tumour markers in a single image, instead of forcing surgeons to switch between modes.
The European Innovation Council committed €2,500,000 to a €4.09 million project planned to run from October 2022 to September 2024. Its only CORDIS report, covering the first year, describes the system and says clinical evaluation was "in preparation". On 26 March 2024 the Mannheim local court appointed a provisional insolvency administrator for the company, according to the official notices. No final report or results for the project have been published.
Company file
- Legal entity
- Thericon GmbH, HRB 734768 (Mannheim court); address now in Gechingen
- Founded
- 2019
- Founders
- Nikolaos Deliolanis, Bartłomiej Grychtol, Steffen Schabel
- Technology
- Real-time multispectral imaging for endoscopy (rMSI)
- Earlier funding
- German GO-Bio programme
- EIC project
- rMSI, planned 1 Oct 2022 to 30 Sep 2024
- Insolvency
- Provisional administrator appointed 26 March 2024 (case 1 IN 1280/24)
What Happened to Thericon
The court order of 26 March 2024, case 1 IN 1280/24, was published in April 2024. The register now gives the company's address as Gechingen rather than its former Mannheim base, and its last share capital increase was in May 2023. Thericon's website could not be reached in September 2026. We found no announcement of a buyer for the technology or of the company's continuation.
The record
A provisional administrator 18 months into the EIC project
Thericon started its EIC project in October 2022; a provisional insolvency administrator was appointed in March 2024, six months before it was due to end.
- Sep 2019Company foundedThericon GmbH, Mannheim
- Nov 2021PrototypeDemonstrator built with German GO-Bio funding
- Mar 2022EIC Accelerator cut-offrMSI: multispectral imaging to find cancer in endoscopygrant first
- Oct 2022EIC project startsLight source, dual-sensor camera, 4K system€2.50M grant
- Sep 2023Only report period endsClinical evaluation 'in preparation'
- Mar 2024InsolvencyProvisional insolvency administrator appointed
- Sep 2024Planned project endNo final report on CORDIS
Gesundheitsindustrie BW, CORDIS and North Data.
The Technology: Seeing Everything at Once
The report describes a multispectral light source, a dual-sensor 4K camera with high dynamic range, and software that visualises "multiple fluorescence contrast agents - simultaneously without switching". In 2021 the company described pilot studies in which conventional systems missed up to 20% of tumours while rMSI found all lesions, according to Gesundheitsindustrie BW; an ex vivo validation in bladder tumours was published in Translational Andrology and Urology.
The promise
Tumours missed in an early pilot
Share of bladder tumours missed in pilot studies, as described by the company in 2021: conventional systems missed up to 20%, rMSI detected all lesions.
Gesundheitsindustrie BW, November 2021.
"We overlay different images to create a multi-parametric view so surgeons can see all tissue information in one image."
Nikolaos Deliolanis, co-founder, Thericon, 2021What the EIC Project Promised, and What CORDIS Shows
The EIC project
The EU was to pay 61% of a €4.09M project
rMSI was planned for October 2022 to September 2024. How much was paid before the insolvency is not public.
CORDIS project 190110216. Values in € millions.
The project promised "accurate detection of cancerous tissue in endoscopic surgery" and projected a 20% cut in cancer recurrence. The first-year report describes the system design; the clinical evaluation that would test that promise was still being prepared. CORDIS still lists the project as signed, not terminated, and shows nothing after September 2023.
- Integrated imaging systemDesignedPer first-year report.
- Clinical evaluationNot reported"In preparation" in 2023.
- A viable companyUnclearProvisional administrator, March 2024.
The shareholders
Last new shares in 2023
Registered share capital in euros.
Commercial register data via North Data.
The Money
Thericon's accounts are filed in Germany but not freely displayed. The register shows capital increases in 2020, 2022 and 2023, the last in May 2023, ten months before the administrator was appointed. CORDIS does not show how much of the €2.5 million grant was paid.
What Is Not Known
Questions for the EIC
How much of the grant was paid before the administrator was appointed, whether the project was formally terminated, what happened to the technology, and what the EU will recover are not public.
Why Europe Should Care
The EIC committed €2.5 million to a small German medtech with a promising imaging technique. A provisional insolvency administrator was appointed before the project could produce clinical results, and the EU's public record still shows the project as running, with a single first-year report.
What the project promised
Real-time multispectral imaging for more accurate detection of cancer in endoscopy.
What the record shows
A system design, no clinical results, a provisional insolvency administrator in March 2024 and no final report.
The Verdict
A project that reached court
We found no record that Thericon completed its EIC project. Whatever the grant paid for, the public cannot see it: the EU's record stops after the first year and a provisional insolvency administrator was appointed in March 2024.
Thericon, its insolvency administrator and the EIC have not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on public records and published statements, linked throughout.
Industry
HealthMedical devices
- Focus
- Medical imaging
- Technologies
- Hyperspectral imaging
- Keywords
- Endoscopy
- Bladder cancer
- Fluorescence-guided surgery
- Urology
- Multispectral imaging