US-Israeli company Corindus Vascular Robotics Inc. has received US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval to market is catheterization robot product in the US.
Corindus was founded in 2000 by Prof. Rafael Beyar, the general director of Rambam Medical Center in Haifa. Its first CEO was Tal Wenderow, who had managed it since it was based at the Technion incubator. The company now operates in Massachusetts and is mainly run by a US team.
Corindus's product enables doctors to carry out catheterization by full remote using a computer to control the robot's arms. In this way, the doctor is not exposed to radiation caused by the need for X-ray imaging of the patient to see the location of the implant in the body. In addition, the surgeon is not bending over the patient, but comfortably sitting at a station. The chances of a catheterization doctor getting cancer are much higher than other doctors. Bending over a patient while keeping total concentration, while wearing a lead vest against radiation, causes severe back problems.
Carindus will now have to persuade doctors that they do not have to be next to the patient to feel with their own hands the physical resistance of the catheter in the body in order to correctly place it. In the trial conducted by the company on 175 patients, the success rate of the catheterization was 100%, and the exposure to radiation was 3% of the level in a regular procedure.
In April 2011, Corindus signed an agreement with Philips Healthcare, under which Philips declared that it would market the product as part of its cardiology solutions. As part of that deal, Philips invested in the company, although the exact terms were not disclosed.
In addition to Philips, Corindus's investors include 20/20 HealthCare Partners LLC; inventor and engineer, Motti Beyar, the brother of Rafael Beyar; Motti Beyar's former business partner Lewis Pell; HealthCor Management; and the Technion incubator. The company has raised more than $15 million.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 26, 2012
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