US-Israeli company Corindus Vascular Robotics Inc., which develops technology allowing catheterization by full remote using a computer to control the robot's arms, has signed a US exclusive distribution agreement with Royal Philips NV.
Corindus, which received US Food and Drug Administration clearance for marketing its robot-assisted system last month, already had a cooperation development agreement with Philips, which has also invested in the company. The system is approved for the minimally invasive treatment of obstructed coronary arteries in patients with Coronary Artery Disease (CAD), a procedure that is also known as Percutaneous Coronary Intervention.
Corindus was founded in 2002 by Prof. Rafael Beyar, the director general 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 procedures without being exposed to radiation caused by the need for X-ray imaging of the patient when seeing 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.
Corindus 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 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 August 23, 2012
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