ISRAEL 
HIGH-TECH & INVESTMENT REPORT

from the October 2005 issue


Mazor Spinal Surgery Device gets FDA Approval


Mazor Surgical Technologies has received FDA approval for its newly developed Hover-T Bridge, a platform for minimally invasive spinal surgery (MIS).

Mazor's flagship product, the SpineAssist, based on miniature robotic technology, is a precise positioning tool. By teaming SpineAssist with Hover-T, Mazor can provide a complete MIS platform for lumbar spine procedures.

The Hover-T is attached percutaneously to the patient allowing the SpineAssist to float above the spine. This allows surgeons to accurately access any point in the spine through a minimal invasive approach with minimal muscle or tissue disruption. Mazor stated that Hover-T will allow for the first time the ability to navigate along the entire lumbar spine without the need to expose bone, muscle or tissue, and makes it possible to perform spinal procedures with the smallest of incisions.

Although MIS implants represent for the manufacturers a premium product with high income, utilization is still very low. Mazor believes that the SpineAssist MIS platform will change this trend and encourage usage of premium implant products and become a major revenue generator for Mazor as well as for implant companies.

Professor Moshe Shoham founded Mazor within the Technion Incubator in 2001. The company's main offices are located in Israel, with recently opened offices in the US.

To date, Mazor has raised over $19.5 million in two rounds. VC companies that have invested in Mazor include Alice Ventures, Johnson & Johnson, Israel HealthCare Ventures, Shalom Equity, Dor Ventures, Proseed, and ITP.

The Hover-T will be launched and presented at the North American Spine Society meeting, which will take place in Philadelphia at the end of the month.

The medical device start-up company -- Mazor Surgical Technologies, which develops a miniature robot designed for spinal procedures, installed last year its first two systems in the US and Israel. This system enables the surgeon to increase the level of accuracy during surgery while lowering the level of risk related to spine surgical procedures.

The robot developed by Mazor, SpineAssist, is an advanced solution in the medical field, which offers an innovative approach to the long-time problem of spine surgeons: the need to perform precise surgical procedures in the spine area, without the risk of injuring any nerves. The solution offered by Mazor, is a precise robot, no bigger than a soda can, attached directly to the patient's body. It helps the surgeon to determine the exact positioning of tools and implants.

The SpineAssist will shorten surgery time, increase accuracy and minimize the risk of medical failures that result from misplacement of implants and use of other surgical tools during spine fixation procedures. The system was successfully tested on cadavers at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation (CCF) and is in the midst of clinical human trials in several spine centers in Israel (Sheba Medical center, Rabin Medical Center and Carmel hospital). CCF in Ohio, one of the leading centers in spine surgery and research in the world, and the Israeli centers will be the first to perform surgeries with the SpineAssist. Each year more than 500,000 spine surgeries are performed in the US alone, creating a large potential market for the SpineAssist. Mazor's CEO, Ori Hadomi, predicts that in a few years SpineAssist will become a standard of care in spine surgeries. "I believe that the combination of precision, operation simplicity and performance reliability will play a key role in the success of the product and company."

Professor Moshe Shoham founded Mazor in 2001. The company is located in Israel and it employs 20 employees. Several international VC funds invested in Mazor: J&J DC, Shalom Equity, ITP, Proseed, Dor and Alice.


Reprinted from the Israel High-Tech & Investment Report October 2005

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