Pulmera lands $2.3M cancer grant to bring 3D imaging to lung biopsies
What's the deal? PulmeraDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a Charlotte, North Carolina medical technology company, has been awarded a $2.25 million Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Cancer InstituteDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, part of the National Institutes of HealthDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. The two-year, non-dilutive funding will support development of its CBeam imaging platform for lung cancer diagnostics.
What's the endgame? CBeam is an FDA-cleared system that turns standard 2D surgical C-arms — imaging equipment hospitals already own — into 3D intraoperative imaging tools in seconds. A position sensor attaches to the C-arm, captures X-ray images during a brief rotational scan, and reconstructs them into a 3D dataset for navigation and surgical decisions.
Why now? The grant targets a specific clinical gap. Guided bronchoscopy of peripheral lung lesions has a diagnostic yield of roughly 70%, while robotic bronchoscopy with CT guidance has reached about 95% — but the advanced equipment behind those gains remains costly and hard to access.
The funding will accelerate research, expand Pulmera's engineering team, and extend CBeam compatibility to more C-arm models. The platform is currently indicated for orthopedic and neurological procedures; the grant supports its push into pulmonology and thoracic oncology to improve biopsies of potentially cancerous lung nodules.
"The challenge has been access: advanced 3D imaging can require expensive, dedicated equipment," said Kevin McGann, president and chief executive officer of Pulmera. "CBeam is designed to address that barrier by leveraging C-arm equipment hospitals already own."
The signal: The award ranks in roughly the top third of comparable rounds by size, a meaningful sum for non-dilutive government backing. It signals federal interest in cheaper paths to advanced imaging — closing the diagnostic gap in lung cancer without forcing hospitals to buy new hardware.
Read more: Business Insider
Image credit: Pulmera
