A Diagnostics & Imaging Week

Novadaq Technologies (Toronto) a developer of real-time medical imaging and image guidance systems for use in the operating room, reported it has received a $1 million payment from Intuitive Surgical (Sunnyvale, California) for achieving the first pre-defined milestone outlined in the terms of their license and development agreement signed in January. Novadaq and Intuitive are working together to integrate Novadaq's proprietary SPY imaging technology into the 3-D high definition imaging capabilities of Intuitive's da Vinci Surgical Robotic System.

In late 2007, Novadaq and Intuitive began exploring the use of SPY imaging during minimally invasive surgical robotic procedures to potentially enable surgeons to visualize blood flow in vessels, tissue perfusion, tumors, tumor margins, and the lymphatic system in real-time. That collaboration resulted in the signing of two multi-year agreements between the companies in January. Novadaq has received an upfront license payment and the first of a total of three milestone payments. Following commercialization of the integrated system, Novadaq will also receive royalty payments for each da Vinci Surgical System sold with, or upgraded to include SPY imaging. The Supply Agreement names Novadaq as Intuitive's exclusive supplier of a key component of the electronic sub-system that enables the fluorescence imaging capability, and the consumable fluorescence agent used in each imaging procedure.