Ceretas IPO: A portable ultrasound headset for Alzheimer's lines up for the ASX
- Noel Ong
- 3 minutes ago
- 8 min read
Brisbane biotech Ceretas is seeking $8 million to take a decade of University of Queensland brain research from the lab bench to the clinic.
Ceretas Limited, a Brisbane-based medical device company, is asking Australian investors to help fund the leap from promising brain research to a treatment doctors can actually use.
The company wants to raise $8 million by issuing 32 million new shares at 25 cents each, and expects to begin trading on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) under the code CTS on or around 28 July 2026.
At the offer price, the company would list with an indicative market capitalisation of about $17.8 million. The raise is being run by two Perth joint lead managers, Caravel Securities and Taurus Capital Group, and the offer period was scheduled to close on 13 July 2026.
What is Ceretas actually selling? : Not a drug, but a device.
The Ceretas Device is a portable, non-invasive headset that aims focused ultrasound beams through the skull at specific parts of the brain, to treat Alzheimer's disease. The technology was developed over more than a decade at The University of Queensland (UQ) and its Queensland Brain Institute, and Ceretas holds an exclusive licence to commercialise it.
The company is candid in its prospectus that this is an early-stage, pre-revenue business. It has completed one small first-in-human safety trial and is about to start a larger feasibility study. It does not expect to earn meaningful revenue in the short term, and its own board describes an investment as "highly speculative." The $8 million is designed to last roughly two years.
Figure 1: A demonstration of the ultrasound device developed by researchers at QBI (Source: Company Website)
The technology: Ultrasound aimed at the brain, two ways
Most Alzheimer's treatments are drugs that circulate through the whole body. Ceretas is taking a different route. Its device uses focused ultrasound, sound waves concentrated on a precise target, to interact directly with brain tissue. The system has three main parts: a transducer that generates the ultrasound, a fluid coupling that carries the sound efficiently from the device to the scalp, and an image-guided neuronavigation system that steers the beam using each patient's own MRI scan.
The device is designed to work through two distinct mechanisms:
Table 1: Ceretas Mechanism
The blood-brain barrier presents a major challenge in treating brain diseases. While it shields the brain from harmful substances, it also prevents most drugs from entering. If Ceretas can safely and temporarily open this barrier, it could have significant implications beyond just Alzheimer's, although this aspect of the program is still in the laboratory phase.
Management argues the device's edge is practicality. Unlike MRI-guided ultrasound systems, which treat patients inside an MRI machine, the Ceretas Device only needs a single baseline MRI scan for planning and can then be used in ordinary clinics, hospitals and aged-care settings. And unlike implanted ultrasound devices, it requires no surgery.
An investment in Ceretas should be considered highly speculative and is subject to a range of risks.— Ceretas prospectus, Letter from the Chair
The Ceretas IPO opportunity: A large market driven by an ageing world
The commercial logic rests on scale and demographics. Alzheimer's disease affects an estimated 55 million people worldwide and is the most common form of dementia, accounting for 60% to 80% of all cases. As populations age, that number is expected to climb steeply.
Ceretas points to the global dementia treatment market being worth approximately US$18 billion in 2024, projected to reach roughly US$28 billion by 2030. The company is careful to note these are at the lower end of published estimates. A particular focus is the behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia, a large group of patients the company says are poorly served by existing treatments.
Samso Caution A word of caution on these figures for investors: market-size numbers in early-stage prospectuses describe the total opportunity, not what any single company is likely to capture. Ceretas has no approved product and no sales, so the path from a US$28 billion market to actual revenue runs through years of trials, regulatory approvals and clinical adoption. |
The evidence so far: One completed trial, one about to begin
The clinical story is genuinely early. A first-in-human Phase 1 pilot study treated 12 participants with Alzheimer's disease at the Mater Private Hospital in Brisbane. The trial met its goals of safety, feasibility and tolerability, with no dropouts. It was not designed to prove the treatment works, but an exploratory analysis found a statistically significant improvement in behavioural and psychological symptoms, a result the researchers said warranted further study. The findings were published in the journal Brain Communications in late 2025.
The next step is the Company-Sponsored (CERE-CALM) Phase 2 Trial, a feasibility study in patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's, which received ethics approval in May 2026. Separately, UQ is running an investigator-led Phase 2 trial in moderate-to-severe patients, funded by a $5 million Queensland Health grant, with all resulting intellectual property flowing to Ceretas.
Where the money goes: Trials and device development take the lion's share
Combining the $8 million raised with $1.6 million of existing cash reserves gives Ceretas IPO about $9.6 million to spend over its first two years as a listed company. More than a third is earmarked for its flagship Phase 2 trial.
Table 2: Use of funds
The numbers: Pre-revenue, grant-funded, and loss-making
As you would expect for a company at this stage, the financial statements show losses and no product revenue. What income there is comes from a government grant and bank interest, not from selling anything. The figures below are drawn from the company's reviewed and audited historical accounts.
Table 3: Income statement
On the balance sheet, the picture improves markedly once the raise is factored in. As at 31 December 2025 the company held $2.89 million in cash and reported net assets of $2.26 million. On a pro forma basis, after the offer, cash rises to around $10.1 million and total assets to roughly $10.5 million.
Share structure: Who owns what after listing
On listing, Ceretas expects to have about 71.4 million shares on issue, alongside roughly 9.6 million options and 2.5 million performance rights held mainly by management and the joint lead managers.
Table 4: Capital Structure
Early backers did well on paper. Founding investors bought in at prices as low as $0.0001 per share in October 2024, rising through subsequent placements at $0.01, $0.08 and $0.16, to the $0.25 IPO price. To stop early holders selling immediately, the ASX is expected to place roughly 32% of the shares into escrow for up to 24 months.
No single shareholder is expected to control the company after listing. The largest holders on admission are expected to be UniQuest (UQ's commercialisation arm) with around 8.4%, and two investor entities associated with the founders and lead manager, each holding under 6%.
The people: A board with medtech exits behind it
For a company this small, the board carries notable healthcare and capital-markets experience, including several people with prior ASX-listed track records.
Table 5: The Board
The risks: What could go wrong
The prospectus devotes an entire section to risk, and the company repeatedly stresses that this is a highly speculative investment. The main themes an investor should weigh:
◆ Key risk factors flagged by the company
Going concern & funding: the company needs further capital beyond this raise; that funding may not be available, or may dilute shareholders.
Clinical trial risk: trials are expensive and can fail. Early results may not translate to larger studies, and the historical failure rate in drug and device development is high.
Regulatory risk: there is no guarantee the device will win regulatory approval, in any market, within any timeframe.
Commercialisation risk: even with approval, the device must be adopted by clinicians and patients in a competitive market.
Limited operating history: Ceretas was incorporated in October 2024 and has never commercialised a product.
Intellectual property risk: the business depends on a licensed patent portfolio that must be protected and maintained.
Liquidity risk: with about a third of shares in escrow, freely tradeable stock is limited early on.
Key dates: The road to market
The bottom line: A high-risk, high-conviction science bet
Ceretas offers investors a clean version of the early-stage medtech proposition: a genuinely differentiated technology backed by a decade of university research and an experienced board, wrapped around a business with no product revenue, one small completed trial, and an explicit dependence on future funding. The $8 million raise buys roughly two years of runway to turn a promising Phase 1 signal into Phase 2 evidence.
If the CERE-CALM trial reads out well and the regulatory path opens up, the addressable market is large. If it does not, the company is upfront that the downside is significant. As with any speculative float, the right amount to allocate is the amount you can afford to lose.
The the global dementia treatment market is lucrative however, the jury is still out on most treatments that I have read. However, this does not mean that we are being pessismictic on any new ventures, it is more a cautionary thought as serious DYOR is required. No doubt, Samso will be following this business closely.
Samso has been covering this space for a while:
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