Mazor Surgical Technologies Ltd. (TASE:MZOR) today announced that its SpineAssist robotic navigational device for spinal surgeries was successfully used in three procedures to remove malignant tumors in the spine and procedures on the neck vertebrae. These procedures are considered particularly risky.
The procedures were carried out at the N.N. Burdenko Neurosurgical Institute in Moscow.
Mazor's share rose 7.1% on the news, but fell back to 3.6% by early afternoon, to NIS 9.35, giving a market cap of NIS 130 million.
SpineAssist, Mazor's flagship product, is a robotic navigation and imaging system that enables great precision for spinal implants and other procedures, in line with the surgeons' pre-procedure planning. The device enables surgeons to use minimally invasive procedures on the spine.
The demonstration procedures at the Burdenko Neurosurgical Institute could open the Russian market to Mazor. The company has a distribution agreement with a Russian medical equipment distributor, and it expects to get more orders from other Russian hospitals. The distributor made a special effort for the SpineAssist, including specialized sales and technical support staff.
Mazor CEO Ori Hadomi said, "The success in these three difficult procedures is further evidence of the level of precision and high stability of the SpineAssist technology that we developed. The response of the Russian doctors confirmed the system's capabilities and level of navigation precision that it provides, enabling the doctors to provide patients with treatments that would not have been possible with the robot. We believe that completion of this additional application of the SpineAssist is of significant clinical and commercial value for the company, and will enable Mazor to offer the SpineAssist for target audiences that have been waiting for it, since they hitherto lacked a response to their needs."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 16, 2009
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