ActiViews : video camera inserted in the needle
Sources inform ”Globes” that ActiViews Inc., which has developed a guided needle for pulmonary biopsies and tumor surgical procedures, is about to be acquired by a major US company, probably Stryker Corporation (NYSE: SYK) for $20-30 million. The companies already have a strategic collaboration.ActiViews declined to comment on the report.
ActiViews obtained US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval to market its leading product in early 2011, and Stryker has been its partner in marketing and the development of the next-generation product. The agreement was supposed to generate tens of millions of dollars in royalties, but Stryker has apparently decided that acquiring the company pays off better.
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ActiViews has raised $10 million from 7 Health Ventures and XT Ventures Ltd.(formerly Ofer Hi-TechLtd.) It was founded in 2006 by CEO Yuval Zuk and president and CTO Pinchas Gilboa founded the company in 2006. Zuk previously founded neurosurgical MRI guidance systems developer Odin Medical Technologies, which was acquired by Medtronic Inc. (NYSE: MDT) in 2006, and now functions as Medtronic’s Israeli development center, and Gilboa earlier founded bronchoscopic guidance tool developersuperDimension Ltd.
ActiViews’ product is designed to improve current CT-based navigation to pulmonary tumors in order to take biopsies or ablation procedure of the tumor. The product is in two parts: a video camera inserted in the needle and a patch placed on the skin. Computer synchronization of the image from optical needle and the CT scanner can precisely position the needle without the need of a second CT image. The system provides great precision while reducing radiation, as well as ablation and removal of tumors using only the needle.
In 2005, Stryker acquired Sightline Technologies, which developed flexible endoscopes for improving insertion and sterilization during colonoscopies, for $150 million, but later closed the Israeli development center. In 2012, it acquired Surpass Medical, which developed mesh-based next-generation flow diversion stents for treating brain aneurysms, for $135 million. It briefly considered acquiring MCS Medical Compression Systems (DBN) Ltd.(TASE:MDCL).
Published by www.globes-online.com
