TibaRay

TibaRay aims to cure cancer in a flash.

It’s a medical-technology (medtech) company out to tackle one of the biggest challenges in healthcare: how to treat cancer faster and more effectively, without damaging healthy tissue.

This company is led by CEO Thinh Tran, former CEO of Sigma Designs, a semiconductor business that he grew from a startup to a public company with a roughly $2 billion market cap. Co-Founder Sami Tantawi is a former Stanford professor led world-class radiofrequency (RF) accelerator research.

Most cancer patients who undergo radiation therapy receive treatment over multiple sessions. And each session can last several minutes. In fact, the current fastest treatment option in the world is more than three minutes.

This may not seem like much time. But even over the course of a few minutes, cancerous tumors can shift, making it harder to target cancer cells. This is when otherwise healthy tissue can be accidentally damaged.

TibaRay is developing a new approach called Flash radiotherapy. This approach delivers treatment 400x faster than current options — less than half a second — and, as a result, creates a forty-percent reduction in damage to healthy tissue.

To achieve this, TibaRay is building its own proprietary particle-accelerator technology, the kind that powers its ultra-fast treatment. Its flagship system, known as Phaser, is designed to deliver radiation with precision and speed.

The company’s platform is built around advanced linear accelerators, which generate high-energy beams used in radiation therapy. But unlike traditional machines, TibaRay’s delivers radiation at ultra-high speeds while improving targeting accuracy and reducing treatment times.

Cancer therapy is a $300 billion market, with radiotherapy accounting for nearly $10 billion of this figure. As many as twelve million patients worldwide require radiotherapy each year. It’s used in more than 60% of U.S. cancer treatments. But only about half actually receive it due to a lack of access.

To start, TibaRay is focusing on cancer care. But potential applications for its technology include cardiac arrhythmias, pulmonary emphysema, neurological conditions, and arthritis & inflammatory conditions. All told, this adds another twenty billion dollars’ worth of opportunities.

TibaRay generates revenue by selling or licensing its accelerator technology across multiple industries. These include medical imaging, security scanning, and industrial inspection. Longer-term, it aims to deploy its full radiotherapy systems to hospitals and cancer centers.

TibaRay has already made progress toward commercialization. More than $27 million has been invested in its development to date, including more than $14 million in non-dilutive federal grants.

The company has more than twenty patents issued or pending, and its technology has been integrated into a radiotherapy system developed by Leo Cancer Care, a medtech manufacturer. It’s also received an investment from global healthcare provider, IHH Healthcare.

Team Background

Thinh Tran - CEO & Director

Thinh has more than forty years of experience leadership and M&A activity.

In addition to his role with TibaRay, he is Founder & CEO of Vita Imaging, a medical-device company focused on early-cancer screenings. Previously, he served as CEO of Sigma Designs, a semiconductor-manufacturing business, which he grew from a startup to a $2 billion publicly-traded company.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin and a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Stanford.

Sami Tantawi - Co-Founder & CTO

Sami is a Professor of Physics at Arizona State University. He’s also Emeritus Professor of Astrophysics and Particle Physics at Stanford University and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, where he was the Chief Scientist in the Technology & Innovation Directorate, where he led R&D efforts.

He has been working on accelerators and radio frequency technology for most of his career in both technical and leadership roles. Through his work, there is a better understanding of RF breakdown processes. This has led to novel ways of optimizing linear accelerator design and will lead to the operation of highly efficient, higher gradient compact linacs.

Sami received his PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland. He was awarded the U.S. Particle Accelerator School Prize for achievements in Accelerator Physics and Technology in 2003.

Bill Loo - Co-Founder & Chief Medical Advisor

Bill is a physician-scientist Radiation Oncologist and Bioengineer. He serves as Director of Thoracic Radiation Oncology, Co-Director of Particle Therapy, and Director of New Technologies in Radiation Oncology at Stanford Cancer Institute. His clinical expertise is in state-of-the-art radiation therapy for lung/thoracic cancers, including stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) and 4-D image-guided radiation therapy.

He is an internationally recognized expert on thoracic cancers and radiotherapy and serves on expert panels of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. This network produces among the most widely adopted clinical practice guidelines for cancer.

His clinical research is in clinical trials and implementation of new treatment techniques for lung cancer and development of new medical imaging and other biomarkers. He is principal investigator of a research lab recognized as a global leader in the biology of ultra-rapid FLASH radiotherapy and development of next generation radiation technologies. He conceived TibaRay’s Phaser concept for highly conformal FLASH cancer therapy and serves as co-leader of its research and development.

Bill received his MD from University of California, Davis and his Ph.D in Bioengineering from University of California, San Francisco and Berkeley.

He completed his Radiation Oncology residency training at Stanford University where he is now Professor of Radiation Oncology. He is certified by the American Board of Radiology in Radiation Oncology, and is a Fellow of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) and a Fellow of the American College of Radiology (ACR).

Co-Investors

IHH Healthcare

One of the world's largest healthcare providers, operating in ten countries. Large presence in Asia.