Optiscan has developed a range of products, charting a strategic progression towards the primary goal of commercialising breakthrough clinical diagnostic systems using miniaturised confocal microscopes.
The research grade Benchtop F900e was released in 1995, and was the first product to be developed by Optiscan. It was a revolutionary system, where the Optiscan technology was used to convert a conventional microscope into a 3D confocal system. The Benchtop F900e has been in use for several years in many leading research organisations and hospitals.
The Rigid Probe was the first prototype product success to emerge from the High Magnification Endomicroscope project in 1998. Produced as an attachment to the Benchtop F900e, the Rigid Probe enabled imaging of living tissue in vivo. Researchers at Monash University were quick to embrace this technology and apply it to skin research and investigation of gastrointestinal tract diseases.
The next product in the pipeline was the Hand Held Probe, which was subsequently marketed as the “Stratum”, a hand held scanner primarily aimed at applications in dermatology, particularly the detection and monitoring of skin cancers and general, inflammatory skin conditions. It features a compact, pen-like probe, which can be held in one hand and placed against the skin to reveal microscopic details several cell layers beneath the surface. It was the first of Optiscan’s new generation clinical product range.
The Flexible Endo-microscope is a further miniaturised version in a thin, flexible tube. Its design allows it to be deployed inside the body for diagnosis and monitoring of diseases such as colon cancer or ulcerative colitis. Conventional medical endoscopes are used routinely to view internal organs, but can only magnify 10 to 20 times. The Optiscan technology provides the world’s first capability for a miniature probe to view individual cells with a magnification of 1,000 times without surgical removal of tissue from the body. The product has been jointly developed with Pentax, which has exclusive rights to the use of the technology in flexible endoscopy.
Known as the Pentax ISC-1000, the product was released to the world market
on 1 March 2006.
Optiscan is developing a range of Rigid Endoscopes, which could be used for applications such as general surgery (open or keyhole), obstetrics and gynaecology, orthopaedics, ENT or ophthalmology, where immediate histological characterisation or margin assessment is advantageous. Rigid endomicroscope development leverages off the platform technology incorporated in the flexible scanner. Additional Optiscan engineering expertise is applied to modify the scanner form, function and its housing to achieve sterilisation and enable a host of potential new applications.
Optiscan is also pursuing the development of research confocal microscopes. The market is well established, and the main participants include companies to which Optiscan has already licensed its benchtop (non miniaturised) fibre confocal technology.
The research confocal market is significant. Systems typically cost several hundred thousand dollars each to buy, are funded through research grants, and are only sold when their features permit scientists to do new research that attracts grant funding. Hence, there is a real opportunity to open up new prospects for sales growth by introducing Optiscan’s miniaturised confocal technology to this market, enabling scientists to conduct new types of research and experiments.
In developing the diagnostic uses for Optiscan's clinical products, several factors have been found to play a major role in making the procedures repeatable and easy. These involve the use of specific dyes and novel methods by which these are applied to the tissue, thus assisting in the recognition of disease.
Development in this area is aimed at the definition of standardised kits of consumables for specific procedures. Hence, this technology represents a significant potential revenue stream from each and every diagnosis performed with Optiscan's products.
Additional consumables are also associated with sterilisable components for certain applications, such as disposable sterile sheaths to use for infection-prone tissues.
An ongoing process of applications development and clinical trials is aimed at generating an increasing range of applications for the Optiscan instruments. This approach contributes significant growth potential to Optiscan’s business. It relates both to the potential to bring to market an increasing array of consumables, and at the same time, extend the clinical utility, and therefore desirability, of the Optiscan instruments.
