Optoacoustic imaging shines pulses of laser light into the body and listens to the ultrasound that tissue gives off as it absorbs them. The result, according to the EU project iThera Medical won, is a picture of tissue oxygenation, inflammation and fibrosis at depth that no existing technology can replicate. The Munich company, registered in 2010, sold its MSOT scanners to research labs and had a CE-marked clinical version by 2021.
The European Innovation Council granted €2,451,121 towards a two-year, €3.58 million project to take the technology "from research optoacoustic novelty to imaging established in routine diagnostics", and the EIC Fund joined a €13 million round. The project built a smaller, cheaper device. In August 2025 insolvency proceedings were opened against iThera Medical and its research subsidiary.
Company file
- Legal entity
- iThera Medical GmbH, Munich Local Court HRB 183451
- Registered
- January 2010, Munich
- Chief executive
- Christian Wiest, co-founder (as of 2022)
- Products
- MSOT Acuity Echo (CE-marked 2021); MSOT Frontier (preproduction)
- Subsidiary
- iThera Scientific GmbH, preclinical systems, spun out 2017
- Investors
- Trumpf Venture, EIC Fund, Mey Capital Matrix, Wachstumsfonds Bayern, BayBG and others
- EIC project
- FRONTIER, 1 Apr 2022 to 31 Mar 2024, closed
- Status
- In insolvency proceedings since 1 August 2025
What Happened to iThera
The German register on North Data lists iThera Medical as in liquidation, with an insolvency case at the Munich Local Court in May 2025 (file 1501 IN 1705/25). Published insolvency notices, as indexed by mcjustice.de, state that proceedings were opened on 1 August 2025 for illiquidity and over-indebtedness, and that the same happened to iThera Scientific GmbH that day. The notices set a creditors' meeting for 17 November 2025 to vote on an asset purchase agreement between the insolvency administrator and a company called Spear UG. We found no public announcement of the outcome or of who, if anyone, continues the MSOT product line.
We found no statement from iThera itself about the insolvency.
The Technology: Seeing Molecules With Sound
Multispectral optoacoustic tomography (MSOT) uses light at several wavelengths, which lets it tell different molecules apart. The CORDIS summary says it visualises living tissue at depth and shows the concentration and distribution of clinically relevant molecules, delivering information on tissue oxygenation, inflammation and fibrotic changes. FRONTIER prioritised two uses: peripheral arterial disease and neuromuscular disease.
"This funding round is the next major step to translate our MSOT technology from a tool in research to a diagnostic asset in a clinical setting."
Christian Wiest, CEO, iThera Medical, December 2022, via optics.orgWhat the EIC Project Promised, and What CORDIS Shows
FRONTIER ran from April 2022 to March 2024. The CORDIS report says it produced a "preproduction unit of the next-generation MSOT Frontier imaging platform" and met its main goal of reducing "device size, weight, and manufacturing costs without sacrificing performance". It assessed market entry and reimbursement in Germany, the UK and the US, and drew up a clinical trial strategy for peripheral arterial disease and neuromuscular disease. It also lists what remained: CE marking and FDA approval for the new device, clinical validation, and "successful negotiation with insurance infrastructures to introduce reimbursement".
- A smaller, cheaper clinical deviceDeliveredPreproduction MSOT Frontier unit, per CORDIS.
- Regulatory approval of the new deviceNot achievedListed as outstanding at project end; no approval found.
- US market accessNot achievedDe Novo submission for the older Acuity Echo; no authorisation found.
- Routine clinical use with reimbursementNot achievedCompany in insolvency proceedings from August 2025.
From the Award to Insolvency
iThera announced on LinkedIn that it had submitted the MSOT Acuity Echo to the FDA under the De Novo route, for new devices without a predicate, and planned a Breakthrough Device application. We found no FDA authorisation. The Acuity Echo had received its CE mark in June 2021, according to iThera's release and the EU project EUPHORIA, which also funded its development.
The Money
The €13 million round in December 2022 was led by Trumpf Venture with the EIC Fund, as the equity part of the EIC Accelerator award, and existing investors including Mey Capital Matrix, Wachstumsfonds Bayern and BayBG, according to optics.org and the law firm Heuking, which advised Trumpf. The money was to fund the next-generation device, CE and FDA approvals and clinical evidence.
What cannot be checked
How much the EIC Fund invested, what it and other creditors will recover, and whether anyone continues the clinical programme are not public. iThera's last filed accounts, for 2023, are not freely displayed.
Why Europe Should Care
The EU funded iThera through at least two programmes, EUPHORIA and the EIC Accelerator, and invested through the EIC Fund. The company reached the point the EIC is designed to bridge, a working clinical device, and still could not raise enough to cross the gap to approval and reimbursement.
What the project promised
Take MSOT from research labs to routine clinical diagnostics with a smaller, cheaper scanner.
What the record shows
A preproduction device, no new approval, no US authorisation, and insolvency proceedings 16 months after the project ended.
The Verdict
The device was built; the company was not saved
FRONTIER delivered its engineering goal, and CORDIS was candid that approvals, clinical validation and reimbursement were still to come. Those are the most expensive steps for any imaging company, and iThera did not finance them. For the EIC, which put in both grant and equity, iThera is a clear case of public money reaching a medtech company that then failed before reaching the clinic.
iThera Medical, now in insolvency, has not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on public records, company statements and EU project data, linked throughout.
