It’s rare for a person to be driven to change the world without some kind of personal connection. And some opportunities in life present themselves so perfectly that it seems a little too much like fate. The story behind Tenomix Inc and CEO, and Co-founder, Saumik Biswas is one of these stories. 

A drive towards medical innovation

Biswas was exposed to medical innovation early on in his life. His brother was born without a tibia bone in his leg and, at the age of two, he had one built for him over many years through innovative medical technology at Toronto Sick Kids. 

When Biswas was sixteen, his family experienced a loss that would eventually be a driving motivation behind Tenomix’s technology. Biswas’ aunt passed away at the young age of 47 due to improper colon cancer staging. 

Seeing, firsthand, both medical innovation and the impact of deficits in the medical space drove him towards change. Not only did he enter the medical field and pursue a PhD in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Western University, but when the opportunity arose, he applied for the Medical Innovation Fellowship program at Western to further build on his entrepreneurial curiosity and skill sets.

Fostering innovation at Western University

“The Medical Innovation Fellowship program was about 10 and a half months long. The purpose of the program was to either start a startup or license that technology with new IP for someone else to build,” Biswas explained. “They put you in a room filled with engineers, doctors, and clinical scientists. It was in that program that I met my three other co-founders of Tenomix, who have strong expertise in medicine, robotics engineering or running previous businesses.”

Together, in the program, the four of them encountered a pathologist who brought to light the challenges that exist in colon cancer staging. Having experienced the devastating result of such a mistake firsthand, Biswas and his team immediately saw an opportunity to have a positive impact on the world. 

Changing the process for colon cancer screening

Traditionally, the process of staging and analyzing colon cancer biopsies is done manually. Surgeons will cut out the tumor and surrounding tissues and send it to a pathology lab for further analysis. After inspecting the tumour regions, pathology staff (including lab techs, pathologist’s assistants, pathology residents or pathologists at certain hospitals) then search for lymph nodes in the sample with their hands. 

“This process is manually done all throughout the world,” said Biswas.

In order to stage colon cancer, these individual lymph nodes are extracted and sent for additional testing through histology. A clinical report is generated by the pathologist that helps inform the oncologist on the exact cancer staging of the patient, which would then dictate chemotherapy treatment decisions.

“The problem that's happening is that in 30 to 60 percent of these cases, lymph nodes are being missed,” he explained. “This leads to inaccurate cancer staging. Inaccurate staging means improper treatment for patients, and ultimately substantial costs for hospitals. These costs are estimated to be over $3 million for each hospital, per year.”

He and his co-founders have been developing an innovative technology that leans on the integration of robotics, ultrasound imaging and AI to automate the manual process for lymph node searches and streamlining this process where it will be more accurate, cost-effective and less labour intensive, ultimately contributing to improved cancer care. 

The value of IP for Tenomix

In the medical space, IP is vital. Medical technology can take years to develop and test before it is released to the market. To maintain a competitive advantage up until a product is ready for the field, protection is key. 

“IP is so important because there's a lot of impact on both the business side and the medical side. Since we’re uniquely integrating both hardware and software components in our technology, we knew that our IP strategy would be unique and it was something we needed to get right,” said Biswas. 

Getting started with IPON

After developing their very first prototype, Tenomix worked with IPON — Intellectual Property Ontario — to get the ball rolling. It was through IPON that the company really began to take shape. IPON helped them enter national patents in 10 different locations for their product, trademark their brand and lay a foundational IP agreement. 

This first step with IPON was what allowed Tenomix to begin truly developing their product, working alongside hospitals and having a more structured business and product to show potential investors. It gave Tenomix the validity to their name to begin to grow. 

With that basic grounding, the next step was to dive further and really explore the opportunities that IP held for their future.  

Building a strategy with ElevateIP

 “I was told about Elevate IP by Josée Pharand at VentureLab. At the time, it was still a new program. I reached out to Communitech to learn more about it and a few months later, they had a new cycle opening up. We applied,” said Biswas. “What was really awesome about the program was that the focus wasn't just on filing patents. It was about building an IP strategy and how to execute it.”

Through the guidance and coaching of the ElevateIP program, the team at Tenomix realized that Trade Secret Protection would be a smarter approach for them.

“With AI and the way it's evolving, people can take your initial architecture and transform parts of it into a new product,” he explained. “It wasn’t until we delved into the strategic side of things that we realized this other approach would protect the core foundation of our technology and give us a competitive edge. Understanding that it will take a few years to get this tech ready for the general market and recognizing the strengths of a trade secret protection strategy, was a massive realization for us.”

Taking fate into their own hands

With the IP support of the IPON and ElevateIP programs, Tenomix is set to grow into the future and have a long lasting impact on the world. 

“ElevateIP connected us with lawyers and people with skilled backgrounds in our space. We have more support and are more confident in our ability to navigate the world of IP. I believe that it is because of this strong foundation that we’ve seen the movement we have this year,” said Biswas. 

In March of 2024, Tenomix secured over $2 million in Canadian seed funding to help them continue their technology development. 

“Investors had a lot of confidence seeing all the support from Elevate IP, IPON, and all of the different organizations that really emphasize protecting our IP,” said Biswas. “Building something innovative and impactful in healthcare is incredibly challenging without this type of support. However, securing funding also requires demonstrating that the solution will be effective, creating a challenging catch-22. We managed to overcome this with the guidance and support from Elevate IP, IPON, our clinical collaborators, and our funding partners. Now, my team and I are ready to tackle the positive trajectory ahead for our company and also be able to provide significant value creation with our platform technology to patients, pathology labs and hospitals worldwide in the coming years.”