Marseille, June 2026 – After two years of R&D supported by the France 2030 investment programme – Artificial Intelligence – Medical Imaging – Région Sud, the Marseille-based startup Ventio has reached a major milestone in its development with the filing of a European patent application in medical imaging.
This protection covers a breakthrough technology, named BriSE, which, from standard MRI examinations, provides access to an unprecedented level of precision in the visualisation and quantification of iron accumulation in the brain. This advance opens up new prospects for the understanding, diagnosis and monitoring of neurodegenerative diseases.
Founded in Marseille, France, in 2020, Ventio develops innovative software dedicated to medical imaging. Supported by Bpifrance, the company is fully aligned with european priorities in technological sovereignty, healthcare innovation and the valorisation of deep-tech research.
An innovation born from a French ecosystem of excellence
This breakthrough is the result of two years of research and development carried out in close collaboration with leading partners from fundamental research, hospitals and digital science, including CEA NeuroSpin, Inria, Paris Psychiatrie & Neurosciences University hospital group, Bordeaux University Hospital and Rennes University Hospital.
It is part of a particularly favourable context for healthcare innovation: the development of medical artificial intelligence, the secondary use of health data for research, progress in radiology interoperability and the acceleration of validation pathways for digital medical devices.
Within this framework, Ventio has developed BriSE, a technology that enables brain iron to be measured with very high precision based on its magnetic properties, using Magnetic Resonance Imaging equipment already deployed in healthcare facilities.
Transforming untapped data into clinical information
During an MRI examination, a significant proportion of the data acquired remains little used or unused today. Long considered artefacts or signals that are difficult to interpret, this information could not be fully leveraged.
The models developed by Ventio now make these data interpretable. They transform a previously underused signal into new clinical information by producing precise images of iron accumulation in the brain.
This capability represents a major advance: it enriches MRI examinations without requiring new heavy equipment or significantly extending the imaging pathway.
A major challenge for neurodegenerative diseases
Iron is an essential component in the production of cellular energy and neurotransmitters. Neurons need it to transmit nerve impulses. They therefore build up local reserves in a non-toxic form of nanocrystals within a protein: ferritin. At excessively high concentrations, iron is responsible for oxidative stress and can lead to ferroptosis, a recently discovered mechanism of cell death. Abnormal accumulation of iron stores in brain “hubs” is now identified as a marker associated with several neurodegenerative processes.
By enabling these accumulations to be mapped with precision, BriSE technology paves the way for better characterisation of brain damage in diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis and rare diseases.
In the short term, this innovation is intended to improve diagnostic accuracy, reduce diagnostic wandering and strengthen early care for patients with neurodegenerative diseases. It also opens the way to more precise monitoring of disease progression and better evaluation of innovative therapies.
The public health challenge is considerable. For these diseases alone, more than 70 million patients are currently being monitored worldwide, a figure expected to increase with population ageing.
An innovation serving the efficiency of the healthcare system
One of BriSE’s major strengths lies in its ability to be deployed as software on the existing installed base of MRI equipment. This approach enriches the clinical information derived from examinations already integrated into care pathways, without investment in new heavy equipment.
For patients, it opens the prospect of earlier, better documented and more consistent diagnosis across the country. For healthcare professionals, it provides a tool to support the characterisation of neurological conditions. For the healthcare system, it represents an opportunity to improve the efficiency and quality of care.
With more than 1.5 million MRI examinations of the central nervous system performed in France in 2025, across all causes, and annual activity growth estimated at around 7%, this technology could ultimately open up new prospects for early detection, stratification and screening of certain neurological diseases, through the identification of biological profiles associated with the intracerebral distribution of iron.
A key step towards valorisation and clinical deployment
The filing of a European patent application represents an important step in Ventio’s scientific, industrial and medical valorisation strategy. It protects, for the next 20 years, a technology resulting from a France 2030 investment and strengthens the international development potential of a European solution in a strategic field of medical imaging.
This protection now paves the way for sharing the results with the scientific community, healthcare professionals, industry players and investors, ahead of the next regulatory steps required for its clinical deployment as a medical device.
Ventio at VivaTech
Winner of the “Breakthrough Innovation” award from the CIC Start Innovation programme, Ventio will exhibit its technology at VivaTech from 17 to 19 June, at Pavilion 7 – stand 2B28-005.
The company will also present its innovation to investors during a session at the Pitch Studio on Thursday 18 June at 4 p.m.
This participation will be one of the first opportunities to share this advance with healthcare innovation stakeholders, public decision-makers, investors and industrial partners.
« Thanks to the support of France 2030, Ventio is reaching a key milestone in the development of a sovereign technology rooted in our regions. Born from the continuum between public research, hospital innovation and innovative enterprise, BriSE translates cutting-edge scientific knowledge into a tool that is more precise, more useful and accessible to the greatest number, to improve the diagnosis and monitoring of neurodegenerative diseases and the evaluation of emerging treatments, without modifying existing hospital equipment. »
Ludovic de Rochefort, PhD in medical imaging, CEO of Ventio
About Ventio
Founded in Marseille in 2020, Ventio is a startup specialising in medical imaging software. It develops innovative solutions aimed at improving the understanding, diagnosis and monitoring of neurological diseases.
Supported by France 2030 and backed by Bpifrance, Ventio aims to contribute to the emergence of a new generation of brain imaging tools capable of better understanding, detecting and monitoring neurodegenerative diseases, for the benefit of clinicians, researchers, patients and the healthcare system.
Paris Expo Porte de Versailles
17-20 juin 2026
Stand CIC, Pavillon 7 Booth 2B28-005