Article Excerpt:
TWST: Would you give us a brief historical sketch of the company and a picture of the things you are doing at the present time?Dr. Menawat: We are about six years old as a company. It started with intellectual property from Johns Hopkins University and the National Research Council in Canada. The initial intellectual property covers imaging technology that uses a fluorescent agent that fluoresces in the human body. Using that, we are able to take images of blood vessels, nerves, and lymphatics. Basically, Novadaq is positioned as a medical device company with medical imaging products that are used in the operating room. The specific areas that we are focused on right now are in cardiac surgery where we evaluate blood flow in the heart during surgery. We have two products in our pipeline - one in ophthalmology and one in radical prostatectomy.
TWST: Would you describe these two products?
Dr. Menawat: The cardiac surgery product is the first product that's in the
market, primarily in the United States right now. We started marketing it late
last year. Cardiac surgery is one of the most invasive surgical procedures that
a person can undergo; because surgeons are dealing straight with the heart, they
open the chest and effectively they are bypassing clogged arteries right on the
heart. These are intricate arteries that require very delicate work. Yet this is
the only major surgery where a surgeon does not validate whether or not they
have actually bypassed properly before they close the patient compared to other
kinds of surgeries. For example, in the coronary arteries of some patients, they
place stents where they will then do X-rays to validate whether or not they have
done it properly.
With cardiac surgery, there hasn't been a good imaging procedure that surgeons
could use in the past, so that is where our product comes in. We have a very
simple product. It is used during surgery and takes about two minutes from the
beginning to the completion. The surgeon is able to visualize blood vessels and
flow in the blood vessels, and therefore validate whether or not the procedure
has been done correctly. If there is a problem, they can fix it before they
close the patient, which is key and is why this product is getting a lot of
attention. You can do this procedure, come out, and know you have done it
technically correct.
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