SAN RAFAEL, Calif., May 27, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Sanovas Inc., a Life Science company accelerating the development and commercialization of next-generation micro-invasive diagnostics, devices and drug delivery technologies, announced today that its MicroCam Inc. subsidiary has signed partnership agreements with two major original equipment manufacturers (OEMs): Healthmark Industries Co. and TeDan Surgical Innovations.
Photo – http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140523/91037
The MicroCam System is a highly integrated platform of proprietary micro optics, electronics and software systems that eliminates the need for nearly all of the components on cart-based endoscopic systems, such as camera consoles, camera heads, light sources, light cables and digital capture devices. This saves 80% of the costs to purchase and maintain an endoscopic imaging system. The 3mm-diameter, 5mm-long MicroCam is designed to expand existing markets and open emerging markets to the prospect of adopting minimally invasive surgery (MIS).
"MicroCam is paving the way for a paradigm shift in minimally invasive surgery toward multimodal imaging methods, linearly integrated medical devices, and natural orifice surgery," said Larry Gerrans, Co-Founder, President and CEO of Sanovas, and inventor of the MicroCam system. "MicroCam's small-diameter 'Plug 'N Play' optics represent a highly disruptive leap in technology, cost, and portability. This is a unique platform solution whose time has come. The technology will, most certainly, evolve the interventional capabilities in the existing market and expand the growth of minimally invasive surgery to nearly 3.1 billion patients in the emerging markets."
MicroCam Inc. is one of Sanovas' portfolio companies that are delivering potentially blockbuster minimally invasive surgical products which enable surgeons to access, image, measure, diagnose and treat diseased and obstructed passageways and anatomies in areas of the human body that have been largely inaccessible…until now.
The MicroCam is also being offered as an OEM product offering to enable industrial manufacturers such as Healthmark Industries Co. and medical device manufacturers such as TeDan Surgical Innovations to incorporate micro digital cameras into their existing product lines—not only to expand the utility of their endoscopic instrumentation, but to also diversify their product lines and, ultimately, to increase their sales.
Healthmark Industries Co. is a supplier of infection control and medical instrument diagnostic systems. The company is placing MicroCam units into a new product, its Flexible Inspection Scope, empowering sterilization processing professionals to be able to literally "see" inside tough-to-clean medical devices such as arthroscopic shavers prior to sterilization, to ensure that they are completely clean. "Intricate modern instruments have revolutionized surgery, of course. But they are very difficult to clean," said Ralph Basile, vice president, marketing, Healthmark. "The MicroCam let's us inspect with a clarity of image that heretofore was not possible with affordable technology."
TeDan Surgical Innovations manufactures surgical retractor systems. The company is adapting MicroCam into the blades of its Phantom ML™ retractors that incrementally dilate a surgical site and use a retractor tube with light cable for minimally invasive procedures. "Placing the MicroCam optics below the surgeon's hands will make for a vastly improved view of the operative sites in orthopedic, neuro and thoracic surgeries," said Terry Johnston, a co-founder of TeDan; and, Founder and President, Rhausler Inc.
About Sanovas
At the heart of the Sanovas companies' scientific advances is the miniaturization of tools for minimally invasive surgery, or "M-I-S." Its products extend access beyond current limits, enabling physicians to diagnose and perform therapeutic interventions in spaces as small as one millimeter in diameter that have previously been unreachable. Sanovas expects to commercialize the technology in coordination with its various partners to address unmet clinical needs in Oncology, Pulmonology, Cardiology, Neurosurgery, ENT, GI, General Surgery, Urology and Gynecology.
Contacts:
Steve Goldsmith, Sanovas, 415-729-9391 x1023, Email
Ronald Trahan, APR, Ronald Trahan Associates, 508-359-4005 x108, Email