New Surgical Tech to Prevent Nerve Damage Wins $100K Ontario Prize

TORONTO, ON – April 24, 2026 – A Hamilton-based medtech startup has captured one of Ontario’s most significant oncology innovation prizes for a technology designed to make cancer surgery safer. NerView Surgical was awarded the $100,000 Ernsting Entrepreneurship award at the FACIT Falcons' Fortunes 2026 pitch competition for its groundbreaking NerveSense™ system, a device poised to revolutionize how surgeons protect nerves during complex operations.

Pitching to a sold-out crowd of investors, scientists, and industry leaders, Founder and CEO Mann Parikh detailed how NerveSense™ provides surgeons with a real-time, high-definition map of a patient's nerves. The win not only provides a crucial injection of capital for the young company but also shines a spotlight on the province’s burgeoning life sciences ecosystem, which is increasingly focused on translating homegrown research into world-class patient care and economic growth.

A New Frontier in Surgical Precision

At the heart of NerView Surgical’s victory is NerveSense™, a handheld device that addresses a pervasive and debilitating risk in cancer surgery: accidental nerve damage. Iatrogenic nerve injury is a significant complication that can occur in up to 40% of complex procedures, leading to chronic pain, loss of function, and a difficult recovery. The NerveSense™ system aims to dramatically reduce this risk.

Unlike conventional methods that often rely on electrode-based monitoring or are more invasive, NerveSense™ uses advanced polarized light imaging. The technology illuminates the surgical field with polarized white and near-infrared light, which reflects differently off various tissue types. A sophisticated image processing pipeline then analyzes these reflections, identifying the unique signature of myelinated nerve axons. The result is a semi-transparent green overlay projected directly onto the live surgical view, clearly highlighting nerves without the need for dyes, physical contact, or interrupting the surgical workflow.

Preclinical studies in murine and porcine models have demonstrated the system's remarkable accuracy, consistently visualizing nerves with high contrast even when they are partially obscured by soft tissue or fluids. For patients, the implications are profound. By giving surgeons the ability to see and avoid critical nerves with unprecedented clarity, the technology promises to preserve function, shorten recovery times, and improve quality of life after cancer treatment.

NerView Surgical is now preparing to take the next critical step. The company plans to initiate a Phase 1 clinical trial this year to evaluate the usability, safety, and workflow integration of NerveSense™ in patients undergoing procedures like facial reanimation, parotidectomy, and thyroidectomy—surgeries where nerves are notoriously vulnerable.

The Engine Room of Ontario's Biotech Boom

The success of NerView Surgical is not an isolated event but rather a product of a deliberate and robust innovation pipeline. The Falcons' Fortunes competition is the flagship event for FACIT Inc., an award-winning commercialization venture firm with a unique mandate to build and grow oncology companies within Ontario.

Established in 2014 by its strategic partner, the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR), FACIT was designed to bridge the infamous "seed venture financing gap" that has historically seen promising Canadian innovations move to the US for capital and development. By providing seed funding, experienced management, and access to a vast network, FACIT helps ensure that Ontario’s world-class research translates into local jobs, intellectual property, and sustainable companies. The firm’s portfolio has already attracted over $1.7 billion in follow-on investment to the province.

This model is a cornerstone of Ontario's broader life sciences strategy, "Taking Life Sciences to the Next Level." Launched in 2022, the strategy aims to make the province a top global biomanufacturing and life sciences hub, with ambitious goals to create 85,000 high-value jobs and double annual venture capital investment by 2030. The government has backed this vision with significant funding, including a renewed $15 million for the Life Sciences Innovation Fund and an additional $100 million for the Invest Ontario Fund.

As Jeff Butler, Assistant Deputy Minister, highlighted in his opening remarks at the event, this coordinated focus is critical. The sentiment was echoed by a panel of past Falcons' Fortunes finalists, who stressed the importance of a structured commercialization network. They credited FACIT’s continuum of support, including the Compass Rose Oncology Fund, for their own early successes and called for sustained government backing of these vital resources.

From Pitch to Progress: The Startup Gauntlet

The competitive energy at Falcons' Fortunes showcased the depth of innovation across the province. While NerView Surgical took the judges' top prize, the live audience awarded its Audience Choice Award to another promising Hamilton-based startup, Block Biosciences.

A spin-out from McMaster University, Block Biosciences is developing a first-in-class therapeutic to prevent cancer from spreading to the brain. Brain metastases are the most common form of brain cancer and are tragically lethal, with most patients surviving less than a year. Block Biosciences’ approach is to proactively intercept cancer cells by inhibiting a key enzyme in the purine biosynthesis pathway, which they discovered is essential for cancer to colonize the brain. This preventative strategy could fundamentally change the prognosis for patients with lung, breast, and skin cancers, which are highly prone to brain metastasis.

The journeys of both NerView Surgical and Block Biosciences illustrate the gauntlet that early-stage medtech companies must navigate. Securing seed funding, validating groundbreaking science, and charting a course through the complex regulatory landscape are immense challenges. Events like Falcons' Fortunes provide more than just a financial prize; they offer validation, exposure, and a critical entry point into the supportive ecosystem that FACIT has cultivated.

"Congratulations to the entrepreneurs from NerView Surgical and Block Biosciences, and to all the finalists in this highly competitive field," said Dr. Nicole Baryla, FACIT's Senior Director of Corporate Affairs, in a statement. "For these early-stage ventures preparing to embark on their entrepreneurial journey, FACIT looks forward to working with you on opportunities to leverage our commercialization programs and synergize with Ontario's ecosystem partners."