Mauna Kea looks to Medtronic, Stryker, others for help in commercializing Cellvizio

Mauna Kea (ENT:MKEA) founder & CEO Sacha Loiseau is looking to some of the biggest names in medtech for help in commercializing its Cellvizio device in the U.S. after winning 510(k) clearance from the FDA last month.

Paris-based Mauna Kea could ink a deal by the end of the year that would allow it to speed Cellvizio to market here. The device was cleared for use in surgical procedures to diagnose cancer; Cellvizio provides images of cells and helps doctors diagnose cancers of the stomach, oesophagus and bile ducts. MKEA shares jumped almost 60% in a single day after it was approved by the FDA.

“We can now address another market, minimally invasive surgery, which has a number of players offering a range of potential uses for our technology,” Loiseau told Reuters.

According to Mauna Kea, the use of Cellvizio in surgery would give it access to a market worth between €400 million and €1 billion ($1.1 billion) a year.

Loiseau lists Stryker (NYSE:SYK), Medtronic (NYSE:MDT), Intuitive Surgical (NSDQ:ISRG), Olympus (TYO:7733), Karl Storz and Novadaq Technologies (TSE:NDQ) as surgical market players he would be “potentially interested” in working with.

“We think we could integrate our Cellvizio technology into their platforms. We are quite confident that we will announce a deal by the end of the year,” he added.

Loiseau said it was “quite possible” the company would turn to financial markets to raise funds when it had presented its road map to investors, adding this “could be in 2016.”

($1 = €0.9305)

Material from Reuters was used in this report.

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