Sanovas Fortifies Patent Estate for its "Smart Catheter" Portfolio: Resector Balloon System Patent Strengthens Vas Zeppelin™ Platform

SAUSALITO, Calif., April 18, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Sanovas Inc. (www.sanovas.com), a Life Sciences Accelerator developing and commercializing next-generation micro-invasive diagnostics, devices and drug delivery technologies, announced today that it has been awarded U.S. Patent No. 8,696,621 for its Resector Balloon System for removing undesirable biological material, such as tumors, within bodily cavities without using a shaving mechanism of action. This is the second issued patent for this system. Both patents protect numerous applications of the technology platform.

Sanovas' Resector Balloon System is designed to solve an ubiquitous problem in clinical medicine. Removal of unwanted and/or life-threatening biological material from interior portions of bodily cavities, such as organs, vessels, articular joints and structures, sinuses, and various bodily lumens, is a common procedure in various medical specialties and disciplines, such as pulmonology, cardiology, urology, gynecology, gastroenterology, neurology, otolaryngology, orthopedics, and general surgery. Various instruments and methods have been employed to perform these procedures with limited success.

"However, one of the most problematic complications in such procedures is bleeding and the damage or destruction of good tissue along with that of the bad tissue. The bleeding and resulting morbidity of tissue that occurs in many of the currently known surgical procedures is the result of abrasive, traumatic, and invasive excising and removal techniques," said Larry Gerrans, Co-Founder, President and CEO. "Many of these techniques risk perforation of the vessel or lumen in which the procedure is being performed, resulting in grave complications for the surgeon and patient.

"In addition, many patient maladies are simply not remedied by these current procedures because no interventional, minimally invasive treatment modality exists. The methods are not efficient, safe, or reproducible, and/or the instruments employed lack the appropriate visualization, physiological measurement, and/or biofeedback necessary to ensure the safety, efficacy, and reproducibility of the procedure. Consequently, a new type of treatment is required for removing undesirable biological material within bodily cavities, and the Sanovas Vas Zeppelin 'Smart Catheter' technology, of which the Resector Balloon System is an integral part, is designed to be that solution," said Gerrans.

"Our system has broad applications within the entire human anatomy, providing sensor-based intervention that empowers doctors with an intuitive command of the anatomy that they have not previously had the clinical benefit of. In many cases doctors may not be able to physically touch, see or feel the target anatomy. They currently do not have the benefit of a sophisticated device that can provide them with the physiologic metrics requisite to characterizing tissue integrity in real time, in vivo. This technology helps them acquire the intraoperative intelligence to discern such things as spatial dimensions, vessel diameters, the understanding of the modulus and elasticity of a vessel or an organ or an airway, or the understanding of the density of any obstructive pathology," added Gerrans.

"This Resector Balloon System patent fortifies salient aspects of the Vas Zeppelin Smart Catheter portfolio's capabilities and will help augment the standard of care across the interventional sciences. This tool is designed to be a game-changer for cardiology, pulmonology, GI, neurosurgery, ENT, oncology and numerous other medical specialties," Gerrans said.

About Sanovas
At the heart of the Sanovas companies' scientific advances is the miniaturization of tools for minimally invasive surgery, or "M-I-S." Its products extend access beyond current limits, enabling physicians to diagnose and perform therapeutic interventions in spaces as small as one millimeter in diameter that have previously been unreachable. Sanovas expects to commercialize the technology in coordination with its various partners to address unmet clinical needs in Oncology, Pulmonology, Cardiology, Neurosurgery, ENT, GI, General Surgery, Urology and Gynecology.

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Contacts :
Steve Goldsmith, Sanovas, 415-729-9391 x1023, Email
Ronald Trahan, APR, Ronald Trahan Associates, 508-359-4005 x108, Email

SOURCE Sanovas