Mirai Medical, the lead applicant and coordinating partner, today announced it has been awarded €7.2 million (approx. $7.9 million) under Call 7 of Ireland’s Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund (DTIF) to advance PIONEER, a national program developing a next-generation, minimally invasive treatment for colorectal cancer.
PIONEER will accelerate the clinical development of Mirai Medical’s ePORE® therapy platform, a non-thermal, pulsed field ablation (PFA) technology designed to preserve healthy tissue and reduce the need for radical surgery. Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers globally, and there is significant unmet need for effective organ-preserving treatment options.
As lead partner, Mirai Medical will coordinate a national consortium integrating advanced screening, digital pathology, molecular profiling, and immuno-oncology into a unified translational pathway.
Consortium members include:
Deciphex – digital pathology and AI-enabled analysis
Eurofins – ctDNA and molecular diagnostics
Trinity College Dublin – translational oncology and immunology
University of Galway – colorectal pathology and research
University College Dublin – gastrointestinal pathology and screening integration
St. James’s Hospital, Dublin – clinical implementation and patient studies
“This award marks a major step forward in our mission to deliver new, minimally invasive treatment options for patients with colorectal cancer,” said Dr. Declan Soden, CEO and Founder of Mirai Medical. “As lead partner on PIONEER, we are bringing together a unique combination of clinical, engineering and diagnostic expertise to advance PFA toward routine clinical use in the GI tract. This investment gives us a clear pathway to accelerate development and move closer to offering patients an organ-preserving alternative to radical surgery.”
The DTIF Call 7 awards represent a record €159 million investment in disruptive technologies across healthcare, AI, advanced manufacturing and sustainability. The Fund is administered by the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment with support from Enterprise Ireland.
PIONEER will support translational research, preclinical studies, and clinical evaluation of Mirai Medical’s ePORE® technology, with the goal of delivering a new treatment modality for colorectal cancer patients in Ireland and internationally.
Mirai Medical is a medical technology company developing pulsed electric field therapies for gastrointestinal disease. The company’s ePORE® therapy platform delivers precise, non-thermal energy to target tissue, enabling minimally invasive and organ-preserving treatment options. Mirai Medical has deployed its technology in multiple clinical settings across the EU and Australia and is advancing next-generation applications through international collaborations.
