When it comes to cancer treatment, there is a big difference in whether a person lives in northwest Donegal or central Dublin. For the former, travelling for routine care represents a significant burden in time and added stress.
Luminate Medical, led by 26-year-old entrepreneur Aaron Hannon, aims to level the playing field for all those receiving cancer treatment through the design and development of new easy-to-use medical device technologies that enable people with cancer to treat themselves at home in certain circumstances.
The goal is to help patients, says Hannon, by enabling them to stay at home rather than travelling, and reduce pressure on hospitals and waiting lists.
“Cancer centres around the world are overwhelmed,” Hannon says. “In the UK, delays of just four weeks in starting treatment can increase mortality by 10 per cent. That’s not just a statistic – that’s people dying because care is too slow.”
Hannon’s path into medical technology began as a teenager when building assistive devices for people with disabilities.
This fuelled what became an enduring passion for solving real-world problems; he saw technology not just as innovation but as a tool to improve lives.
“I didn’t even know the word ‘entrepreneur’ back then,” he says. “For me, it was about building things that mattered.”
That passion followed him to university at Trinity College Dublin, where he studied engineering, and participated in the university’s LaunchBox start-up accelerator. It was there he began developing the ideas that would form the foundation for Luminate Medical.
Hannon left Trinity before graduating to focus on his start-up full-time, backed by a prestigious $100,000 (€86,500) Peter Thiel Fellowship awarded to promising young entrepreneurs. “It worked out well for me,” he admits, “but I wouldn’t recommend everyone drop out like I did.”
Dropping out, he says was a pivotal moment. He was just 20 years old and, looking back now, it was a decision he admits carried risks.
“I was fortunate that the gamble paid off,” says Hannon. “My advice to others who may be thinking of doing the same would be to weigh the choices carefully, given the inherent risks that are involved.”
Luminate Medical’s early success was built on its development of devices to reduce chemotherapy side effects. The company’s first product, Lilly, aims to prevent hair loss – a traumatic experience for many patients undergoing chemotherapy.
Its second product, Lilac, addresses chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, or CIPN, a common condition that causes nerve damage in cancer patients.
Both devices are in clinical trials in the United States, with plans for roll-out in Europe, including clinical work at St James’s Hospital in Dublin. Hannon says the company now employs 50 people between Galway and the US.
The success of these early projects has provided a solid foundation for the company, and showed that Luminate could compete on the global healthcare stage.
The goal is not to replace hospital cancer care, says Hannon, but to create a ‘sliding scale’ where high-risk patients receive treatment in controlled medical environments, while lower-risk patients benefit from safe, remote care
Hannon and his team have sought to build on this momentum by taking a broader look at the big issues in cancer care.
They recognised that hospital capacity, long waiting times and the rising costs of treatments are challenges worldwide and shifted focus accordingly to enable cancer patients to receive care at home, thus benefiting patients and health infrastructures.
The advent of the Covid-19 pandemic increased pressure on global healthcare and the urgency of need for home-based treatments, and Luminate pushed even harder to design technologies that would address this need.
They received substantial funding under the Government’s Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund as part of Lotus, a €6.4 million collaboration with Gentian Health, the University of Galway and TCD. The project aims to develop a smart system to facilitate at home anticancer treatment to enable patients to self-administer treatment in their own homes.
Self-treatment devices look set to revolutionise how drugs are administered and blood samples are taken, not just in cancer treatment but in general.
Hannon says Luminate is working towards getting Federal Drug Administration approval for its devices in the US, with plans to then bring them into clinical use there, and eventually make them available in the European Union market.
The goal is not to replace hospital cancer care, says Hannon, but to create a ‘sliding scale’ where high-risk patients receive treatment in controlled medical environments, while lower-risk patients benefit from safe, remote care.
This can expand cancer treatment capacities, he says, reduce waiting times and improve outcomes for patients by getting them treated sooner.
Meanwhile, there are technical challenges to overcome in deploying home-based therapies to make sure that patients can manage the sometimes complex procedures safely.
Hannon’s team have sought to address this through the development of an auto-injector device that allows people to administer their own medications and take their own blood samples.
They are also working on sensors and remote monitoring technologies that can track a patient’s vital signs and detect adverse reactions, such as allergic responses or signs of shock. These devices can provide critical real-time data to doctors, without overwhelming them with non-essential information.
The development of remote care options is particularly relevant in Ireland, where regional hospitals often serve large catchment areas. This means patients often face long car journeys and additional costs, such as staying in a hotel overnight, in order to access the specialist treatments they need.
“Home-based therapies could democratise access, ensuring that patients in places like Donegal, away from major urban centres, can receive timely and effective treatment without the burden of travel,” says Hannon.
“For example, a young woman in Donegal undergoing immunotherapy could receive her medication at home, delivered by courier, and use the company’s device to infuse the drug in a short session, saving hours each week that would otherwise be spend travelling and waiting in hospital.
“This not only improves quality of life but allows patients to spend more time with family or at work.”
Luminate’s customers vary depending on location. In the US, three insurance companies are key, as they benefit from reduced costs of treatment, which at-home self-treatment can provide. In Europe, meanwhile, hospitals and private clinics are potential clients as the technology can enable them to treat more patients without having to expand public-health infrastructure.
Hannon sees what Luminate is doing as being in line with the global trend towards decentralising healthcare. He cited the success of Dexcom, the US-based company which specialises in continuous glucose monitoring for diabetics as an example of what can be achieved, and his long-term vision would be to establish a Dexcom-like company in Ireland for cancer care.
Luminate faces challenges to fully realise its vision. The healthcare system, in many countries, for example, is heavily reliant on revenue from hospital-administered, high-cost drugs, so there is little incentive to adopt cheaper, home-based solutions, while other companies are also eyeing remote care.
The emergence of Luminate, is, however, a good example of Ireland’s growing reputation as a leader in medical technology innovation. As it moves towards clinical deployment of its devices and broader market entry, Luminate, led by its youthful chief executive, embodies the potential for start-ups in Ireland to make a significant impact on global health challenges, in this case in cancer care.
