Sicel Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1999 and was based in Morrisville, NC. It ceased operations in 2010 after it declared bankruptcy.
Sicel developed an implantable dosimeter that was 2 mm in diameter and 18 mm long, and was injected into the tumor to send back readings to an external receiver via RFID.
- Sicel’s devices were able to mesure and transmit:
- the actual radiation dose hitting the tumor
- the uptake and retention of a particular chemotherapeutic agent
- the temperature during hyperthermia treatment
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the evaluation of combination therapies, monitoring the effects of chemotherapy and radiation therapy, both individually and together
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the level of parameters such as pH or oxygen
In March of 2009 Sicel received FDA’s approval for marketing the implantable dosimeter to measure actual radiation dose at the tumor site for use in treating breast and prostate cancer patients undergoing external beam radiation therapy.
Sadly, in August 2010 Sicel Technologies liquidated its assets and terminated operations after unsuccessfully trying to raise at least $20 million in new funding for more than a year.
UPDATE: December 8, 2015
Digital Angel formerly owned a minority position (49%) in VeriChip, but divested itself of the stake in 2008. VeriChip Corporation and Steel Vault Corporate later merged to form PositiveID. PositiveID (www.psidcorp.com ) no longer develops RFID tags, but has repositioned to develop biological detection systems (PCR-based ebola, SARS, etc. detection) for homeland security, as well as rapid medical testing.
Digital Angel merged with Veriteq in 2013. Veriteq owned the IP to Sicel’s implantable dosimeter products. They have a website at: veriteqcorp.com. Veriteq is no longer in the business of selling human or animal ID tags. Instead, they have reinvented their tags approved for human use as UDI (unique device identifiers) for medical devices. Their website states that they plan to relaunch the implantable radiation dosimeters.