business Archives - Medtech Strasbourg

Constellation : with you for your Medtech business

Constellation announces that a new minimally invasive surgical device – TAGSS has been recommended for CE mark. This innovative new device allows surgeons to perform novel and advanced hybrid procedures combining laparoscopy and GI endoscopy.

Constellation is a French consortium of privately held companies founded in 2016 and located in Strasbourg, France. PROTOMED SA (Strasbourg), IHU- STRASBOURG and BS MEDICAL TECH (Niederroedern), founders of Constellation, gather together years of expertise in medical device R&D, clinical expertise, testing, training and manufacturing. Constellation offers to medical device companies a unique range of services from development of 1 st prototypes to market release. It manages customer’s development projects in house but also with various partners and acts as a single point of contact for the customer.

TAGGS : allows surgeons to perform novel and advanced hybrid procedures

ENDOTAGSS LLC, a US based start-up, was attracted by these unique services and has decided to rely on CONSTELLATION to develop its medical devices including TAGSS. The first of its kind, TAGSS offers a direct access to the stomach for surgeons who want to perform hybrid surgeries. Placed by flexible endoscopy, it allows surgeons and gastroenterologists to introduce rigid laparoscopic instruments through TAGSS ports and enables collaboration between flexible endoscopic tools introduced through the mouth and laparoscopic tools through the TAGSS. This will help surgeons develop new therapeutic strategies for intragastric diseases.

A first milestone for Constellation

TAGSS is the 1st project of Constellation to reach the market, and thanks to its privileged location in the Nextmed and the support of local authorities and Biovalley France, Constellation is already working with additional customers in Europe, USA and the middle East to develop new minimally invasive devices.

“Endotagss was a small team of innovative clinical professionals. They needed to have R&D and regulatory support, that was the part of Protomed; Preclinical validation, where IHU Strasbourg excels and a manufacturing capacity for clinical products, in line with BS MEDICAL TECH expertise”

says Frédéric Mouret, Protomed’s CEO. Professor Lee Swanström, Chief Innovations officer and Scientific Director of the IHU-Strasbourg adds :

“We are proud to be a part of CONSTELLATION and consider it a critical expression of the IHU mandate to develop innovative surgical tools. The TAGSS project is validation that Strasbourg is truly a world center for medical innovation thanks to the pooled expertise of groups like CONSTELLATION.”

Today, the notification certificate is expected to be sent to ENDOTAGGS LLC shortly and discussions are underway with a first center in Germany.

Congratulations to this new star of Strasbourg !

For more information about Constellation, you can contact Frederic Mouret :

+33 3 67 17 67 23 – f.mouret@protomed.fr – http://medicaldevicedevelopment.services

Surgical Perspective Is Seeking To Raise 250,000€ To Develop Scarless Surgical Instruments

Surgical Perspective is a young medical device company focused on innovative single-use surgical instruments. It is seeking funding for its business development through the Happy Capital crowdfunding platform.

After an initial fundraising round in 2013 mainly through the Irdinnov regional fund, Surgical Perspective is seeking €250,000 through the Happy Capital crowdfunding platform.

Objective: make scarless surgery accessible worldwide.

Focus on this innovative company which has developed unique products in a market with endless possibilities.

Instruments already taken up by major French hospitals
Surgical Perspective’s minimally invasive surgical instruments are the result of many years of R&D and have been taken up by over 50 hospitals worldwide, including sector leaders such as Paris’ Pitié Salpêtrière, Henri Mondor University Hospital and Strasbourg’s new civil hospital, as well as a number of private clinics.

Hospitals are increasingly seeking to allow patients to return home as quickly as possible following minimally-invasive surgery and to relieve post-operative pain. Surgical Perspective sees this as a booming market.

The company’s instruments allow surgeons to suspend certain organs and optimise field exposure during an operation, thereby minimising the number of incisions required. This technology is particularly suitable for obesity, gynaecology and urology surgery as well as other common types of surgery such as cholecystectomy.

Patient benefits include a reduction in post-operative pain, lower risk of complication and the possibility to return home more quickly. Advantages for surgeons include fewer instruments in the operating field, optimised field exposure and greater safety.

Crowdfunding for an issue that all of us might face
Surgical Perspective already raised €1 million through Irdinnov and Business Angels in 2013. The company, with its original founders and the same stakeholders, is now undertaking a 2^nd fundraising round and is using the Happy Capital crowdfunding platform to raise a minimum amount of €250,000 out of a total of €1 million. As surgery is an issue that all of us might face, Surgical Perspective CEO Frédéric Mouret considers that the crowdfunding platform is an excellent alternative. As he explains:

“We are looking forward to working with the public of Happy Capital as the products we have developed have been designed almost completely with the patient in mind. As well as facilitating the surgeons’ work, these instruments are also indirectly aimed at hospital patients.”

The highly promising international market
About 10 million surgical procedures could potentially use Surgical Perspective technology, while the potential market for retractors for minimally invasive surgery is estimated at €500 million. This offers excellent growth prospects for the company.

The instruments have already proved successful outside France and have been taken up in hospitals in the United States, where Surgical Perspective is starting to expand its sales structure, and also in Austria, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Romania, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Australia and Central America. The company is also seeking marketing authorisations in Asia. Frédéric Mouret adds:

“This funding round will help us increase our operations in national markets where we already operate and in new ones where we obtain marketing authorisation. These are very costly initiatives, but we know that there is every chance there will be a positive outcome.”

Surgery is a worldwide growth market, open to new technologies and with endless marketing possibilities, which are highly encouraging for Surgical Perspective R&D.

Find out more about Happy Capital funding

Strasbourg Success Story: CRT Aérial’s Feerix Project

Aérial is a Technology Resource Centre founded in 1985 specialising in 3 key areas: food processing, irradiation and freeze-drying. The company’s FEERIX project will bolster its technical resources in irradiation and is a further illustration of the dynamic of Strasbourg’s Nextmed medical technologies campus.

A Technology Resource Centre (Centre de Ressources Technologique – CRT) is a structure awarded the eponymous French Ministry of Research label for its work in performing studies, research and development and expert reports for industry. A CRT label is an indication of the innovation led services the company performs for its corporate customers. A CRT also drives research programs, often in partnership with universities or fundamental research laboratories, to anticipate industry’s future needs.

Aérial CEO Alain Strasser explains “it’s a bit like if we were an R&D department which companies use when they need us. Our main target is SMEs, even though our specific skills also bring us to work with major groups.”

Arial is located in a building of 1400 m² in the Illkirch Innovation Park. The company has 23 employees, mainly engineers and/or PhDs, supported by higher technicians. The building is split into 4 centres, spread over 2 floors and also includes several specialised laboratories (microbiology lab, physical chemistry lab, a dosimetry lab, a sensory analysis lab, an irradiation lab with an electron-accelerator and an experimental freeze-drying lab).

Irradiation: an internationally-recognised Aérial specialty

Aérial’s work initially involved studying food irradiation, a technique for preservation and decontamination, at the Strasbourg Centre of Nuclear Research. As the company’s skills range broadened, it began to cover all aspects of food quality (microbiology or safety, nutritional and sensorial quality) and it started working closely with regional agribusiness companies.

Aérial also wanted to see how it could expand outside the food business. The technology has many applications, including the sterilisation of single-use medical devices, implants and pharmaceutical products, the improvement of polymer physical and chemical properties, surface treatment, grafting, environmental applications (land decontamination, fumes, etc.) and other somewhat more unexpected applications, such as colouring semiprecious stones with electron beams.

“To put it simply, in industry radiation means submitting a product to electron beam, x-ray or gamma radiation to improve its properties. This could be, for example, making it sterile for a medical device or making a plastic component more resistant to temperature extremes.”

Aérial’s team of physicists have acquired considerable expertise and worldwide recognition in irradiation process control (dosimetry). The company is now the only French laboratory accredited by COFRAC, the French accreditation committee, for measuring high radiation doses and develops dose-measuring instruments for manufacturers and laboratories worldwide. Aérial is the only French laboratory approved by DGCCRF (the French directorate general for competition, consumer affairs and the prevention of fraud) for the detection of irradiated foodstuffs.

Aérial has also seen its reputation confirmed by being one of 15 companies selected worldwide to contribute to a research programme initiated by IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency. This five-year project involves the irradiation of food by electron beams and x-rays, a technology for preserving foodstuffs which is enjoying considerable growth outside Europe, especially in Asian countries. The project began in Vienna, the headquarters of the IAEA in October 2015. Aérial is providing its expertise and acting as a consultant to all the participating teams.

The FEERIX project

The FEERIX (electron-beam and x-ray radiation) project is included within the 2015-2017 three-year “Strasbourg European capital” contract and is recognised by the University of Strasbourg as an “initiative of excellence. The project sets out to build a unique R&D and training facility in the Illkirch Innovation Park, featuring a Rhodotron, built by Belgian company IBA. The Rhodotron is a high-power E-beam accelerator and X-ray generator with two separate beam outputs for studying the full range of multisectoral irradiation applications.

Rhodotron and IBA

The Rhodotron is considerably more bulky than Aérial’s current accelerator, which means room will need to be made for it. The building extension will be carried out with the Region as the contracting authority and is due to be completed by 2018 year-end. The cost of the project works out at about €10 million and will be co-funded by the State, the Region, the Eurometropolis of Strasbourg and FEDER, as well as IBA, a long-standing partner of Aérial.