Cytori Therapeutics may be on to something. The San Diego firm is using stem and regenerative cell therapies to develop products for treating cardiovascular disease and performing reconstructive surgery. But unlike so many stem cell companies that are looking to commercialize their technologies through drugs, Cytori is taking a quicker and less grueling route, by bringing its treatment to market in the form of a device, reports TheStreet.com. The device, cleverly named Celution System, automates a process that releases stem and regenerative cells residing within adipose (fat) tissue. The adipose tissue is taken from the patient using a minor liposuction-like…
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Companies developing molecular and specialty diagnostics are poised to outperform other sectors of medical technology in the coming years, according to an article that ran over the weekend in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “The reason they work is they’re very steady in their performance, and many generate cash and have good barriers to entry,” Quintin Lai, a research analyst with Robert W. Baird & Co., tells the paper. Lai says increasing demand for quicker, more accurate tests has made molecular and specialty diagnostics one of the best performing healthcare sectors in the last two years, delivering a 30% average annual…
With its final pivotal trial moving along as planned, Irvington, NY-based Electro-Optical Sciences is actively initiating partnering discussions for its point-of-case melanoma-detection device. MelaFind is a handheld imaging device that emits 10 different wavelengths of light up to 2.5mm deep into the skin in order to capture images of suspicious pigmented skin lesions. This data is then analyzed using mathematical algorithms against a database of melanomas and benign lesions. The “Lesion Classifier” recommends whether the lesion should be biopsied. Last week, at the Needham & Co. Biotechnology and Medical Technology Conference in New York, the company’s CEO, Joseph Gulfo, provided…
Sunnyvale, CA-based Intuitive Surgical has signed a deal with Luna Innovations, of Roanoke, VA, whereby Luna will supply its shape-sensing and position-tracking system for integration into Intuitive’s products, including the popular da Vinci Surgical System. The daVinci system is a robotic operating device that’s controlled by a doctor watching a patient on a monitor; the surgeon’s hand movements are scaled, filtered and translated into movement of the system’s four robotic arms. Incorporating Luna’s technology, which was originally developed at NASA, allows surgeons to “sense” and “track” where devices are located in the body during a procedure. It does this without…
Miami-based Opko Health (formerly known as eXegenics) today announced plans to acquire a diagnostic imaging firm that would compliment its portfolio of ophthalmic therapeutics. The acquisition target, Ophthalmic Technologies (OTI), is a private Canadian company that markets a full line of ophthalmic ultrasound and imaging products used in routine and specialized eye procedures. It has offices in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K., and a distributor network that covers more than 40 countries. Details of the offer price were not disclosed, but Opko said in a press release that it has purchased one-third of OTI’s outstanding common shares and has…
Endocare, an Irvine, CA-based company focused on tissue and tumor ablation, has raised $7 million in a private placement of common stock to Seattle-based Frazier Healthcare Ventures. In a statement, Endocare CEO Craig Davenport said the money will go toward the company’s development efforts in prostate and renal cancer cryoablation, and toward expanding its presence in the interventional radiology and oncology markets for lung and liver cancer, and in treating pain associated with metastases. Endocare’s minimally invasive cryoablation procedures enable physicians to destroy tumors while leaving surrounding tissue intact. A recent study demonstrated that cryoablation as a first-line treatment for prostate cancer…
Data released yesterday from a study of an experimental prostate cancer vaccine showed that Inovio Biomedical’s delivery system significantly enhanced the vaccine’s potency. In the Phase I/II study, some patients received the vaccine through Inovio’s electroporation technology, which uses brief, controlled electrical pulses to increase cellular uptake of gene expression in DNA-based treatments; this enhances the potency of DNA-based immunotherapies against cancers and infectious diseases. Patients who received the prostate cancer vaccine the Inovio way demonstrated safety, tolerability and significantly higher antibody responses than those who were treated without it. Inovio, which is actively licensing its electroporation technology to pharmaceutical…
Champions Biotechnology, of Arlington, VA, announced today plans to buy Biomerk, a private company formed just last year to develop its trademark Tumorgrafts, a preclinical platform of human cancer tumor immune-deficient mice xenografts. Biomerk Tumorgrafts, unlike standard cell line derived xenografts, are implanted directly from primary human cancer tumors and never passaged in cell tissue culture. The idea is that this kind of xenograft more closely reflects human cancer biology and is more predictive of clinical outcome. Biomerk has several patent applications relating to xenograft models used for identifying potentially active chemotherapeutic agents. Champions, which will issue 4,000,000 restricted shares…