ASTRO 2026 Exhibition Hall Preview: Mike Cogswell and Mureva Phototherapy Take Aim at Oral Mucositis

Two years ago, Radiology Oncology Systems sat down with longtime radiation oncology executive Mike Cogswell for an ASTRO 2024 interview focused on MagnetTx and the Aurora-RT MR/Linac. At the end of that conversation, Cogswell mentioned another technology that he was spending time with: Mureva Phototherapy.

A lot has changed since then. Cogswell is now CEO of Mureva, working with founder Vedang Kothari to commercialize a technology designed to reduce the severity of one of the most debilitating side effects experienced by head and neck cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy. While Cogswell remains involved with several companies across the radiation oncology space, he told ROS that Mureva has become his primary focus, helping bring the Mureva system into the hands of clinicians caring for patients at risk of oral mucositis.

With ASTRO 2026 approaching, we caught up with Mike again.

Vano: Mike, when we spoke in 2024, Mureva was an aside at the end of our conversation about MR Linacs. What changed?

Cogswell: A lot. First, that article was about heavy iron. Mureva has really become my focus and passion because it gives us an opportunity to truly make an impact in the supportive care space. The technology was developed by Vedang Kothari and his team, and once I understood both the clinical problem and the solution they had created, I thought the opportunity was enormous.

Oral mucositis is a major problem for patients undergoing cancer treatment, particularly those with head and neck cancer receiving radiation. Patients can develop extremely painful sores in the mouth and throat that make eating and swallowing difficult. In severe cases, they may require feeding tubes, significant pain medication, or even interruptions in their radiation treatment.

Vano: Photobiomodulation has been around for a while. What is Mureva doing differently?

Cogswell: That’s really the key. Photobiomodulation, or PBM, uses a specific wavelength of non-ionizing, non-thermal light to modulate the inflammatory response and support tissue healing. The problem has been delivering that light efficiently throughout the oral cavity in a way that works in routine clinical practice.

Traditionally, a clinician would use a handheld laser or LED probe to treat individual areas in the mouth, and a complete treatment can take around 40 or 45 minutes and only a subset of the oral cavity can be treated. Mureva developed two soft, flexible silicone-based waveguide mouthpieces that target the entire oral cavity in a 10-minute treatment.

The treatment fits into the natural workflow of RT: five minutes with one mouthpiece and five minutes with the other. The patient can receive it shortly before their daily radiation treatment.

Mureva’s system uses patented lightguide technology to deliver 660nm light through the mouthpiece.

Vano: What has the clinical work shown?

Cogswell: Our CMO Michael Marotta ran an incredibly comprehensive multicenter, randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled pivotal study at 12 cancer centers across the country. The results were very encouraging. We saw a significant reduction in severe oral mucositis, fewer patients required surgically placed feeding tubes and opioids, and no patients interrupted their cancer treatment because of oral mucositis. The results of this study have recently been published in Supportive Care in Cancer.

One of the most important findings for me was the potential to help patients remain functional while they are going through an already difficult course of cancer treatment.

Since our last ROS interview, Mureva OM has also received FDA De Novo authorization. FDA granted the authorization on November 26, 2025, establishing a new Class II classification for intraoral phototherapy devices.

Vano: Reimbursement is always important with a new technology. Where does that stand?

Cogswell: That’s another major development. The AMA established a Category III CPT code for the procedure associated with our technology (1011T), effective January 1, 2026. We’re continuing to advance our reimbursement strategy and are actively working through the CMS process.

Having both FDA authorization and a dedicated CPT code gives us an important foundation as we move into commercialization.

Vano: And what should people look for from Mureva at ASTRO this year?

Cogswell: This is really our coming-out year. We’re taking orders, talking with major cancer centers, and preparing to expand deployment of the technology. We have also entered into a co-marketing relationship with Siemens Healthineers/Varian, which gives us another opportunity to introduce Mureva to the radiation oncology community. One of our physicians will also be presenting new outcomes from our completed pivotal study.

Most importantly, we think we’ve taken something that has good science behind it and made it practical enough to actually use every day in a radiation oncology department.

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Mureva Phototherapy will exhibit at ASTRO 2026, Booth 1150

ROS will exhibit at ASTRO 2026, Booth 1921