"Pico projectors and nano scanners could revolutionize the early detection and surgery in the medical field."
In today's marketplace, endoscopes are increasingly involved in performing some of the most common surgical procedures as well as diagnosing cancer and other conditions. They're also a critical component of minimally invasive (MIVS) visualization systems.
The Key Markets:
The immediate target opportunities for Microvision are…
• Flexible endoscopesFlexible Endoscope Market…
• Rigid endoscopes
• Research confocal microscopes
The market for flexible endoscopes is estimated at $1.2 billion a year. It is dominated by Japanese camera companies, specifically Pentax, Olympus and Fujinon.
Microvision could partner with Pentax to introduce its miniaturized confocal microscope to this market. Pentax has an extensive sales force and service infrastructure throughout Europe, Japan, USA and South East Asia. It seeks to increase its market share by gaining competitive advantage through new and exclusive technology, providing a natural alignment of goals and strategy with Microvision.
Rigid Endoscope Market…
The global rigid endoscope market is estimated to be $1 billion a year. The market is more fragmented than that for flexible endoscopes. Some of the more significant participants include leading microscope companies such as Carl Storz, Leica, Richard Wolf, Stryker, Zeiss and Olympus.
Microvision should look to establish one or more partnerships to identify the likely initial applications. This could be followed by development of clinical pilot investigations and the design of the business models that will capitalize on the market position of those partners.
Research Confocal Market…
The global market for research confocal microscopes is believed to be worth $375 million a year.
The utility provided by Microvision’s miniaturized, high resolution, scanner has the potential to expand the scientific fields that can be effectively researched with confocal microscopes. New in vivo research applications can increase demand from this significant and established market. It also has the advantage of easier entry as there is a lower regulatory threshold.
I think Microvision has full-filled on the original feasibility contract with Johnson & Johnson's Ethicon Endo-Surgery Unit. This feasibility agreement was to target Medical Visualization Applications. Now it is up to Ethicon Johnson to take it further. GE imaging may also be involved in some way or form.
This is from Microvision Year 2006 10K [annual report]…
“Working with a development partner, we have also created prototype versions of a high resolution, miniature laser camera for certain medical applications. Under the agreement, we developed prototype units that are being used in product evaluation. We have delivered the prototype units and our development partner is evaluating the units to determine a commercialization plan.”
“In 2006, 51% of revenue was derived from performance on development contracts with the United States government, 24% from performance on development contracts with commercial customers and the remainder from sales of Nomad and Flic units.”
"In 2005, 35% of revenue was derived from performance on development contracts with the United States government, 42% from performance on development contracts with commercial customers and the remainder from sales of Nomad and Flic units.”
“In 2005, Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc. accounted for 33% of total revenue.”
Here’s the link…
http://microvision.blogspot.com/2007/03/mvis-10-k-annual-report-for-2006.html
Microvision could rock the early detection and surgery markets in the medical field [with its HD PicoP projector and nano scanner technology] in the next 3 to 5 years.
Anant Goel
Didn't MVIS basically suspend their camera development to focus on the picop IPM?
ReplyDeleteYes.
ReplyDeleteHowever, as in cooking, the stuff that’s on the back burner can very easily be brought to the front when resources become available and the risk/reward ratio becomes compelling.