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For immediate release
June 11, 2008
Israeli life sciences company locates U.S. headquarters office in the Virginia BioTechnology Research Park
Richmond, Va. – Virtual Ports, Ltd., an Israel-based life science company that develops innovative products for use in laparoscopic surgical procedures, recently closed an investment round supported by a group of local angel investors and will open their U.S. headquarters in Richmond at the Virginia BioTechnology Research Park as a member of the Virginia Biosciences Commercialization Center.
The VBCC has been organized to provide the full complement of capabilities to support later-stage life science companies in the commercialization of their products in the United States.
Virtual Ports, founded in May 2006, recently graduated from the incubator program of the Misgav Venture Accelerator in Israel. In less than two years, the company has developed two medical devices and has received FDA clearance for both products. Virtual Ports is developing a complete line of devices for use in laparoscopic surgery, based on a unique and innovative concept that has significant advantages for reducing patient discomfort, reducing the cost of the procedure and maximizing the surgeon’s convenience.
The EndoGrab™ is a device for retracting internal organs and anchoring them to the internal abdominal wall during laparoscopic procedures. An internally anchored, hands-free retracting device that eliminates the need for a hand-held retractor during surgery, the EndoGrab is introduced at the start of surgery, attached to the organ requiring retraction (such as the colon) and then to the internal abdominal wall, thereby exposing the operative field.
The EndoGrab is important for use in current laparoscopic procedures for reducing the number of incisions, as well as for the next generation of minimally invasive techniques, such as single port access and natural-orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery, an innovative method of abdominal surgery that does not involve an incision in the abdominal wall. The operation is performed through natural orifices such as the mouth. The surgeon passes the camera and surgical instruments into the stomach and, from there, into the abdominal cavity through an incision in the stomach lining. The entire operation uses only one channel (as opposed to several channels in laparoscopic surgery), and is therefore extremely challenging for surgeons.
The EndoClear™ device is designed to clean the lens of the camera that guides the surgeon’s actions in order to avoid distractions caused be the need of removing the camera outside the cavity during the procedure, and save procedure time by up to 10 minutes.
Dr. Ken Zaslav, who founded the Sports Medicine Center at the Advanced Orthopedic Centers in Richmond, believes that endoscopic surgery is following the same path toward less invasive techniques that arthroscopy began two decades ago, and Virtual Ports has created a set of surgical tools that will propel the process forward. “Virtual Ports has a pipeline of tools that will revolutionize minimally invasive surgery,” says Zaslav, who is helping the Israelis commercialize their technology in the U.S. “The new tools will make many surgeries less expensive, speed patient recovery times and hopefully improve medical outcomes.”
“We have been working for some time with this very promising medical device company to assure they receive strategic commercialization and financial support,” states Donna Edmonds, the VBCC’s executive director. “We are extremely pleased to have Virtual Ports locate their U.S. offices at the Virginia BioTechnology Research Park.”
For more information about Virtual Ports, Ltd., see www.virtual-ports.com.
About the Virginia Biosciences Commercialization Center
In addition to the Park’s nationally recognized incubator program, the Virginia Biosciences Development Center, the newly formed VBCC provides substantial support, experience and expertise in bringing “graduates” of Israeli incubator programs to successfully commercialize their products, making them more likely candidates for additional funding sources, business alliances and exit options. Specifically, the VBCC assists companies in developing tailored commercialization strategies, including regulatory and reimbursement support, obtaining market validation, supporting product launch through national clinical leadership networks and assisting in the ongoing funding process, as well as formation of strategic partnerships with industry leaders.
About the Park
The Virginia BioTechnology Research Park is currently home to a unique mix of more than 55 public and private bioscience companies, research institutes affiliated with the VCU Medical Center and major state and national medical laboratories. These companies are housed in nine buildings totaling more than 1.1 million square feet of space, representing an employee base that exceeds 2,000. The VBDC is the Virginia BioTechnology Research Park’s business assistance program located in its 27,000-square-foot incubator. Since opening in 1995, 67 companies have started in the Park’s incubator facility, 40 of which have graduated into larger spaces in the Park or greater Richmond community. The Park’s Commercialization Center has been created to take incubator graduates through commercialization to M&A or IPO, giving the Park’s tenants full-scale business assistance. The Commercialization Center is now the home of eight companies from the Israeli life science community and continues to expand its resource base. It has created alliances with leading incubators in Israel. To date, the Park has graduated three companies that are now publicly traded.
Contact
Christin Fiedler
Virginia BioTechnology Research Park
Phone: (804) 828-0397
E-mail: christy@vabiotech.com
Web site: www.vabiotech.com
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