Veran Medical
Apr 23, 2010
ST LOUIS, April 23, 2010– Veran Medical Technologies announced today that it has recently completed its first installation and performed several procedures at Duke University Medical Center with its FDA cleared SPiN Drive™ product. The product enables clinicians to navigate deep into the peripheral regions of the lungs to access, biopsy and treat potentially cancerous Solitary Pulmonary Nodules (SPN’s).
“I am pleased with how accurate, fast, and easy to use the SPiN Drive system is”, said Momen Wahidi, MD, Director of Interventional Pulmonology and Bronchoscopy at Duke University Medical Center.
“Performing these procedures at Duke marks a significant milestone in the company’s, history”, said Jerome R. Edwards, Veran president and chief executive officer. “We feel confident that our product provides the needed accuracy and streamlined workflow to truly enable pulmonologists to diagnose and treat lung cancer in a manner that makes a significant impact “, said Troy L. Holsing, Veran chief technology officer.
Lung Cancer is a deadly disease that mortally claims 85% of patients within five years. Diagnosing lung cancer at Stage 1 improves survival chances significantly. Due to the 69 Million CT Scans that occur annually in the United States, inadvertent lung cancer screening is occurring. However, SPN’s in the peripheral lung are inaccessible with today’s techniques and technologies, leaving patients on “watchful waiting” protocols of repeat CT Scanning for years on end causing significant patient anxiety and unproductive costs added to the US Healthcare System. Veran’s SPiN Drive Product acts as a GPS like system to enable pulmonologists and surgeons to access these SPN’s to immediately diagnose malignancy, stop the “watchful waiting” and reduce Healthcare Spending.
Veran is a privately held medical device company headquartered in St. Louis, MO. The company’s mission is to empower physicians to diagnose cancer earlier and to enable precision therapy to save lives. In the United States, lung cancer kills more people each year than breast, prostate, pancreatic and colon cancers combined.
Veran has developed and commercialized an FDA cleared, next generation electromagnetic thoracic navigation platform called the SPiN Thoracic Navigation System®. Veran’s breakthrough technology has been adopted by leading cancer centers throughout the United States. Veran provides physicians with a full line of bronchoscopic brushes, needles, forceps and steerable catheters with tiny electromagnetic sensors embedded in the tips for precise navigation. The combination of these proprietary Always-On Tip Tracked® instruments and Veran’s exclusive patient respiratory gating technology enables physicians to accurately access lung nodules by accounting for nodule movement during patient breathing, a common challenge for lung specialists.
Another challenge lung specialists face is that approximately 40% of lung nodules lie outside of an airway, making them very difficult to reach endobronchially, and traditionally requiring an additional procedure. Veran’s SPiN Thoracic Navigation System® is the first and only FDA cleared technology that enables Pulmonologists or Thoracic Surgeons to safely and accurately access lung nodules outside of an airway using SPiN Perc®, a navigated transthoracic needle. With SPiN Perc®, Veran combines endobronchial navigation with percutaneous navigation, allowing physicians to access all lung nodules in a single procedure, regardless of nodule size or location. This eliminates the cost and risk of unnecessary procedures and empowers physicians to provide a same day diagnosis for their patients. The early diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer has been proven to save lives.