Shenzhen Xzing Technology Co. Ltd. received marketing approval from China’s NMPA for its Endofresh disposable electronic colonoscope. The disposable colonoscope provides images with 1920 x 1080 pixels, which helps with diagnosis. It is equipped with auxiliary water and a lens-washing function to make sure of clear vision throughout endoscopy. It also allows users to insert endoscopic accessories at any bending angle no more than 210 degrees.
Ceros Capital Markets completed a $15 million series D funding round for Pristine Surgical LLC, its latest major investment in the medical device space. The funds will be used to advance the commercialization of Pristine’s single-use visualization platform for surgical and diagnostic endoscopic procedures.
Shanghai Aohua Photoelectricity Endoscope Co. Ltd. was listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange Star Market in China on Nov. 15, with the share prices jumping 71.16% on the first day. Aohua Endoscopy offered 33.34 million shares at ¥22.5 (US$3.53) per share. It raised ¥750 million in this IPO, higher than projected ¥640 million it projected to raise.
Multiple sizes of Neptune Medical LLC’s overtube for gastrointestinal (GI) procedures that allows thin-walled tubes to toggle between flexible and rigid states received FDA clearance. With the clearance, the Burlingame, Calif.-based company now has nine sizes of cleared single-use overtubes with more in the wings. The Pathfinder endoscope overtube device uses Neptune’s Dynamic Rigidization technology to keep tubes from looping during procedures, a problem that leads to procedure failure, patient pain and complications in colonoscopy and other GI procedures.
Device reprocessing has intermittently prompted FDA action in an effort to tamp down on infection-driven adverse events for various types of endoscopes, and the latest spate of events involves endoscopes used in urological applications. While the three associated fatalities all took place outside the U.S., the FDA nonetheless indicated that it is considering the possibility that a device redesign is in order, a move the agency endorsed in connection with infections blamed on duodenoscopes.
Omnivision Technologies Inc. has developed the first all-in-one RGB-infrared image sensor designed for medical use. The OHO2A1S sensor offers simultaneous white-light RGB and infrared monochrome captures in one complementary metal oxide semiconductor sensor, enabling endoscopes used in oncology to be produced with just one sensor, reducing the size, cost and heat output of the devices.