A Medical Device Daily

Luna Innovations (Roanoke, Virginia) said that it has entered into an IP licensing, development, and supply agreement with Intuitive Surgical (Sunnyvale, California).

Under the terms of the multi-year agreement, Luna will develop and supply its fiber optic-based shape sensing and position tracking system for integration into Intuitive Surgical’s products, which includes the da Vinci surgical system.

“This agreement with Intuitive Surgical expands our presence within the medical devices market and further demonstrates the strength of our business model focused on the commercialization of our proprietary technologies and intellectual property. Our technology, partnered with the world leader in medical robotics, will help surgeons precisely guide and control surgical tools during robotically assisted procedures,” stated Kent Murphy, Luna’s CEO/chairman. “It’s truly rewarding to know that Luna’s technology will be assisting in complex minimally invasive surgery helping to ensure the best outcome for patients.”

“We view Luna as the clear technology leader in the area of advanced shape sensing and position tracking systems” said Gary Guthart, Intuitive’s COO. “We look forward to working closely with Luna on the integration of our two technologies.”

Luna’s shape sensing and position tracking system promises to provide real-time position measurements to help surgeons navigate through the body. The system consists of software, instrumentation and disposable optical sensing fiber. Luna’s technology is designed to provide the user with an accurate, direct and continuous measurement of device location with no adverse effect from line of sight limitations and without introducing electrical signals or radiation into the body.

In other agreements, BioTime (Emeryville, California) reported that Hospira (Lake Forest, Illinois) has declined an opportunity to commercialize PentaLyte under the terms offered by BioTime. PentaLyte is BioTime’s pentastarch-based plasma volume expander in a balanced formulation. Hospira will continue to manufacture and sell Hextend in the U.S. under its license agreement with BioTime and retains its right to obtain regulatory approval and market Hextend in Latin America and Australia. BioTime makes blood plasma volume expanders, blood replacement solutions for hypothermic (low temperature) surgery, organ preservation solutions and technology for use in surgery, emergency trauma treatment and other applications.