EnglishSurgiMab was created in 2011, based on the academic work on Immuno-PhotoDetection (IPD) by André Pèlegrin Ph.D. and Marian Gutowski, M.D.
The technique is based on the in vivo use of monoclonal antibodies as vectors for fluorescent dies towards tumor zones. The pioneer work published by André Pèlegrin in the 90s demonstrated that it was indeed possible to significantly increase the specificity of fluorescent dies by conjugating them to monoclonal antibodies recognizing tumor cells. An ex vivo evaluation of the technique in patients then demonstrated that the IPD technique could be used in the clinic.
After 10 years of academinc research Marian Gutowski, oncology surgeon in Montpellier Cancer Institute, joined Dr. Pèlegrin’s team to participate to the clinical development of IPD for intraoperative visualization of tumors in real-time.
After extensive development work in the lab, A. Pèlegrin and M. Gutowski teamed with Françoise Cailler and Michel Barbelanne to build an operational complementary team that let the project to its current clinical and entrepreneurial stage.