Prothea Technologies

Prothea Technologies is an Edinburgh-based medical technology spinout from the Universities of Edinburgh and Bath, with the ambitious goal of enabling lung cancer biopsy, diagnosis, and treatment to be completed in a single hospital visit. The company was founded in 2024 after more than ten years of collaborative research across five UK universities, backed by organisations including UK Research and Innovation, the Wellcome Trust, and Cancer Research UK.

Prothea's lead product is a fibreoptic microendoscope combined with an image processing system that provides in-situ molecular-level analysis of lung lesions during biopsy. A companion laser ablation catheter is in development to enable immediate treatment following biopsy. Together, these technologies aim to collapse a process that currently takes weeks of scans, biopsies, and follow-up appointments into a single procedure, relieving hospital pressure and dramatically improving patient outcomes for the UK's third most common cancer.

Prothea launched with a €12 million Series A co-led by Earlybird Venture Capital and Mérieux Equity Partners, with NRW.BANK and Old College Capital also participating. In 2025 the company enrolled its first patient in the Precision Lung clinical trial at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, a major milestone on its path to commercialisation.