Immunolight

Immunolight is a privately held American biotechnology company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, focused on translating innovations in energy conversion into new therapeutic approaches for cancer. The company was founded in 2007 by Frederic (Rick) Bourke, a longtime science patron and businessman known in the fashion handbag industry, who has been the sole funder of the research behind the company's technology. Immunolight's mission, as stated on its website, is to innovate advancements in energy conversion technologies that create value in medicine, commercial industries and the life sciences. The company's lead program is Immunolight Cancer Therapy (ICT), which it describes as a non-chemotherapy clinical trial approach for advanced solid tumors. The core concept, conceived by Bourke, involves generating light inside a tumor to induce an immune response against cancer, drawing on a conceptual parallel to photopheresis, a technology used for cancers of the blood. Immunolight has assembled a scientific team including Harold Walder, a former R&D executive at Johnson & Johnson who serves as president, and has established a relationship with Duke University to advance the research. As of its public communications, Immunolight is running a Phase I clinical trial in advanced solid tumors and has announced expansion cohorts for triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) and soft tissue sarcoma (STS), with the potential to treat 16 patients in each group. The company continues to recruit and treat patients with other advanced solid tumors, and directs readers to ClinicalTrials.gov for more information on the study. Immunolight presents its work publicly through venues such as the Future in Review (FiRe) conference and podcast, where Bourke and Walder have discussed the technology and its potential impact. Immunolight operates as a private, founder-funded enterprise rather than a listed corporation, and its activities center on clinical development and proof-of-concept research for its energy-conversion and light-based immunotherapy platform.

Immunolight was founded in 2007 by Frederic (Rick) Bourke, a businessman known as a fashion icon in the handbag business who has spent over 30 years pursuing and developing science. According to the company's own account, the catalyst for the founding idea arose from Bourke's passion for animals. In 2007 he brought his beloved dog, Lucy, to be treated at a renowned veterinary hospital at Cornell University. There he met another dog owner who, running out of money and options, was seeking a last treatment resort for his ailing dog. Bourke paid for the stranger's dog, Riley, to be treated. He then connected the dots between the two dogs' conditions and conceived the idea of generating light inside a tumor to induce an immune response against cancer, akin to photopheresis, a related technology that has been successfully used on cancers of the blood. Bourke subsequently founded Immunolight around this concept. Bourke has been the sole funder of the exhaustive research undertaken to prove the concept, develop the technology and deliver it into practice. He took early action to assemble a scientific team, starting with Harold Walder, a former R&D executive at Johnson & Johnson who became president of Immunolight. Together they established a relationship with Duke University and enlisted the support of a highly interdisciplinary group. The company's stated mission is to innovate advancements in energy conversion technologies that create value in medicine, commercial industries and the life sciences. Immunolight's lead effort is Immunolight Cancer Therapy (ICT), which it presents as a non-chemotherapy clinical trial for advanced solid tumors. The company has described its work as a potential paradigm shift in the treatment of cancer, emphasizing the medical, emotional and financial burden that cancer places on society. Its highest priority is translating innovations in energy conversion, its core technology, into new therapeutic possibilities for cancer. By its public communications, Immunolight has advanced into clinical testing. It announced the expansion of its Phase I clinical trial to include Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) and Soft Tissue Sarcoma (STS) cohorts, with the potential to treat 16 patients in each group, while continuing to recruit and treat patients with other advanced solid tumors. The company directs readers to ClinicalTrials.gov for more information on the study. It also engages in public outreach, including the FiRe (Future in Review) Conference 2025, where Bourke explained the latest advancements in the technology and its potential impact across industries, and a FiRe podcast episode in which Harold Walder discussed the development of ICT with FiRe COO Berit Anderson. Immunolight remains a private company associated with Detroit, Michigan, in the United States, and is characterized by founder funding and a focus on proof-of-concept and early clinical development of its light-based immunotherapy platform.

• 2026

  Immunolight announces expansion of its Phase I clinical trial to include Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) and Soft Tissue Sarcoma (STS) cohorts.

• 2025

  Founder and CEO Rick Bourke presents at the FiRe Conference 2025; Harold Walder appears on a FiRe podcast to discuss Immunolight Cancer Therapy (ICT).

• 2007

  Immunolight is founded by Frederic (Rick) Bourke, inspired by an idea conceived after encounters at Cornell University's veterinary hospital.

• 2007

  Bourke begins sole funding of research to prove the concept and develop the technology.

• Harold Walder, a former R&D executive at Johnson & Johnson, joins as president; a relationship with Duke University is established.

A founder-funded biotechnology company positioning its energy-conversion platform as a paradigm shift in cancer treatment through light-based, non-chemotherapy immunotherapy.

• Immunolight Cancer Therapy (ICT)

  A non-chemotherapy clinical trial approach for advanced solid tumors that generates light inside a tumor to induce an immune response against cancer.

• Energy conversion technology platform

  The company's core technology, which it seeks to translate into therapies and applications across medicine, commercial industries and the life sciences.

1. 1Immunolight: Illumination, Innovation, Transformationimmunolight.com
2. 2About — Immunolight: Illumination, Innovation, Transformationimmunolight.com
3. 3Immunolight (United States) — Wikidatawikidata.org