Smart Medical to customize NaviAid External Channel Device to suit Crospon's EndoFLIP imaging catheter

Medical device developers, Crospon, based in Ireland and Smart Medical Systems based in Ra'anana, Israel today announced that they have signed a collaborative agreement whereby Smart Medical will produce a custom version of their NaviAid™ external channel endoscope accessory for Crospon, to permit deployment and positioning of Crospon's EndoFLIP™ imaging catheter.

Smart Medical also announced that the endoscopic accessory, known as the EF-800 External Channel Device (ECD), has recently received CE mark approval. The EF-800 is scheduled to be launched in May 2011.

Commenting on the agreement, John O'Dea, CEO, Crospon said, "This partnership with Smart Medical represents an excellent example of open innovation. We were first introduced to the NaviAid™ eighteen months ago and saw excellent potential for a modified version of the device to meet our needs in terms of deploying our EndoFLIP catheter to hard-to-access areas within the gastrointestinal tract. This endoscope accessory will play a key role as we move EndoFLIP into the bariatric revision market, in particular for gastric bypass pouch stoma repair. In the medium term it will also provide the means for us to deploy EndoFLIP within the colon for the assessment of distensibility disorders such as IBD and Crohn's disease.

Expanding on the new relationship, Gadi Terliuc, CEO, Smart Medical said, "Partnering with Crospon is aligned with Smart's strategy of joining forces with prominent GI companies for the collaborative development and commercialization of high-end medical products. Providing a customized Smart delivery system to Crospon's unique diagnostic device results in a diagnostic kit that can impact and enhance current endoscopy, in a variety of applications. In particular, the EF-800 backed EndoFLIP is our first step into the continuously growing Bariatric Surgery field".

Crospon develops leading edge minimally invasive medical devices for monitoring, diagnosis and therapy in the gastroenterology area. During 2010 Crospon launched its EndoFLIP^® product in the U.S. market at the 12th World Congress of Endoscopic Surgery in National Harbor, Washington DC. The EndoFLIP^® product which received FDA clearance in December 2009 is the first product of its kind, which allows a bariatric surgeon to measure and set a consistent gastric band stoma size during surgery.

At the start of 2011, the Company announced it has received clearance from the US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) to market a new imaging catheter for the measurement of sleeves created during bariatric surgery. The catheter which will be launched next week at the SAGES 2011 Conference in San Antonio is the latest development to the Company's EndoFLIP^® range and is designed to assist surgeons during sleeve gastrectomy and gastric imbrication procedures.