Smart Medical Systems Ltd. and Ireland's Crospon Ltd. have signed a collaboration agreement to market a combined product for stomach shortening surgical procedures (placement of a gastric band stoma).
Smart Medical will produce a custom version of its NaviAid external channel endoscope accessory for Crospon to permit deployment and positioning of Crospon’s EndoFLIP imaging catheter.
Smart Medical has developed accessories for endoscopes for minimally invasive surgery. Smart Medical CEO Gadi Terliuc told "Globes" that the company was in talks on more agreements.
Smart Medical was founded in 2005 and has received several million dollars in financing from private investors. Terliuc said, "We offer our capabilities to companies in fields where we probably won't operate, such as the stomach shortening procedures market. Crospon has developed a device to precisely measure how much the stomach has been shortened, which saves the surgeon a lot of time. However, they lacked a system to direct their device to the right location, which is where we come in. We've adapted one of our current products to their needs, and the products will be sold as a single system."
Crospon is a fairly new company that already has sales in Europe and US through a distributor Medical Measurement Systems Ltd.
Terliuc declined to disclose details about the agreement with Crospon, saying only, "The share of intellectual property rights is reasonable," implying that Smart Medical will receive royalties on sales.
Smart Medical also has a range of independent products. One product for improving diagnosis of problems in the small intestine, is already sold in Europe by Pentax. Another product for improving diagnosis of problems in the large intestine (via colonoscopy) obtained US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and EU CE Mark certification this year. The company has begun US sales.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 29, 2011
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