Jan 11 2010
Luna Innovations Incorporated (NASDAQ: LUNA) announced today that it will be extending its development and supply agreement with Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG) to continue integrating Luna’s shape sensing technology into Intuitive’s products.
In June 2007, Luna and Intuitive entered into a multi-year development and supply agreement in which Luna would supply its fiber optic based shape sensing system for integration into Intuitive’s medical robotics products and license its shape sensing technology to Intuitive for this purpose. Intuitive Surgical is the global technology leader in robotic-assisted minimally invasive surgery and its products include the da Vinci® Surgical System. Luna has successfully achieved the expectations of the development work in the original agreement, which concluded in December of 2009.
Luna and Intuitive will be extending their development and supply agreement to further develop Luna’s technology for its products.
"This new agreement with Intuitive Surgical will continue Luna’s relationship with the leader in the medical robotics market and further demonstrates the potential of our technology and intellectual property,” stated Kent Murphy, Luna's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "It has been a great relationship over the past thirty months, and it is extremely rewarding to know that Luna's technology will be assisting in complex minimally invasive surgery in the pursuit of delivering the best outcome for patients."
“We continue to view Luna as a strong technology partner in the area of advanced shape sensing and position tracking systems,” said Dave Rosa, Intuitive’s Vice President of New Product Development. “Our development with Luna is progressing well and Intuitive remains committed to our joint project.”
Luna’s exclusive shape sensing system tracks the position of an optical fiber along its entire length, providing real-time measurements that can assist surgeons in navigating through the body. This technology could be particularly helpful in certain minimally invasive surgical techniques because of the need to track the position of medical instruments in the patient, using optical fibers as thin as a human hair to provide sensing and feedback as the nervous system does for the human body.
Source: http://www.lunainnovations.com/