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UNC Spinout Inneroptic Tech Opens Up Surgeon's View Inside a Patient

Editor's note: BioWatch is a regular feature on Fridays that focuses on the newest trends in biotechnology, life science and medical deveopments.A new University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill spinout company, Inneroptic Technology Inc., says its laparoscopic device offers surgeons a 3D view of internal organs without the need to slice open a chest.

Patients and insurance providers often favor laparoscopic surgery, in which a video camera on an inserted tube gives the surgeon an inside-the-body view without cutting open the patient. The procedure reduces trauma and complications. Surgeons, though, favor open surgery for a better view and also doesn't require managing cumbersome instruments via remote access.

Inneroptic's founders believe they have the answer and is ready to strike.

The company is hiring a chief executive officer who will chase $3.4 million in venture funding to build the devices and submit an application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Executives say they will need about $7 million in additional funding to reach FDA approval.

Inneroptic's interim CEO and co-founder Kurtis Keller tells Local Tech Wire that a CEO will be on board shortly. He can't release the new CEO's name yet because paperwork isn't complete.

Whoever is hired has a big opportunity, Keller insists.

Keller says Inneroptic thinks it can make $29 million the first year its sells its 3D laparoscopic devices. He says the company needs about 18 months to submit a new medical device application to the FDA, the first step in seeking approval.

A sharper view

"It can be considered a modification of an existing device," says Keller. "You turn on a switch and it works just like a regular laparoscopic device." That means, he says, it may only take 90 days to get approval once the NDA is submitted.

The entire process may to market may take only about four and half years rather than the more normal seven to ten FDA approval usually requires. The company also could reach profitability in five years.

The invention is partly the work of pioneering virtual reality researcher Henry Fuchs of the UNC computer science department, a world leader in virtual reality technologies. Fuchs has helped develop numerous improved medical-imaging devices.

Keller says Inneroptic's first-of-its kind device captures both video imagery and depth in real time giving the surgeon a 3D display. He says it gives doctors such a sophisticated view that the company thinks it will become a standard technology in hospitals.

Keller says the view rivals the one surgeons get when they open a patient with a scalpel. Surgeons will view the image on a headset viewer or a flat wall panel. The device tracks the motion of the surgeon's head, giving a natural change in perspective.

Inneroptic says the device not only improves the view, it also simplifies the procedure. It believes the two advances will increase the popularity and use of laparoscopes.

Potential market is big

Inneroptic Tech has benefited from a UNC business school analysis of its potential market and business plan, Keller says. This sort of cross pollination at UNC and other major regional universities is making tech transfer from scientists' labs to commercial exploitation an increasingly sophisticated process.

The business school analysis notes the market size for the new devices is $250 million for general surgeries and obstetrics/gynecology. Two million laparascopic surgeries are performed a year in the U.S. and more might be performed if the 3D device entices more surgeons to use the procedures.

The company's business plan notes that it believes the 3D laparoscope will also benefit diagnostics, replacement of prosthetics and treatment of sports related injuries.

Keller says a device can be ready for clinical testing of the patented device in two years followed by sales to clinical trial sites, teaching hospitals and research labs. It plans to sell the systems (head-mounted and wall-mounted) for from $90,000 to $130,000 each.

It will also sell optical probes for different procedures. It anticipates sales of about $29 million the first year after FDA approval, rising to an average of $50 million for six years. It says it expects $32 million in profits. It says replacement tubes sublicensed to a standard laparoscope maker will bring in another $10 million a year.

Although 26 companies make standard 2D laparoscopes, the company says none provide 3D measurement and depth in real time during actual surgeries.

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