PARIS, Sept. 30, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mauna Kea Technologies announced today that The Wall Street Journal has named the company a runner up in the medical device category of the newspaper's 2008 Technology Innovation Awards for its Cellvizio(r), a miniature microscope that provides a view of living internal tissue at the microscopic level during normal endoscopic procedures. The judges chose innovations that broke new ground in their fields and demonstrated some measurable impact.
By allowing physicians to see internal gastro-intestinal and lung tissue in real time, revealing their finest details, Cellvizio has the potential to immediately orient treatment, eliminate unnecessary biopsies and repeat procedures and speed up the diagnosis of gastrointestinal and lung diseases.
"Probe-based confocal laser endomicroscopy gives us dynamic, microscopic images of internal tissue," said Dr. Alexander Meining of the Technical University of Munich. "This helps us make faster, more effective decisions about how we treat a patient. Using this new method, we can pinpoint and fully remove diseased tissue with endoscopic tools on the spot, or, in more serious cases, send the patient directly into surgery."
The Wall Street Journal received more than 700 entries for the Innovation Awards this year. A panel of 15 judges representing venture-capital firms, other companies and research institutions reviewed more than 160 entries to pick overall Gold, Silver and Bronze winners and selected the top technologies in 16 industry categories.
"The Wall Street Journal's recognition significantly validates our technology, underscoring Cellvizio's potential to improve patient care through faster, more accurate diagnoses and fewer unnecessary procedures," Sacha Loiseau, Ph.D., president and CEO of Mauna Kea Technologies, said. "We're extremely honored to receive this prestigious designation."
About Mauna Kea Technologies and Cellvizio:
Mauna Kea Technologies, which has changed its operating name to Cellvizio in the U.S., is a venture-backed medical device company based in Paris, France, with U.S. offices in Fort Washington, Penn. Investors include Psilos Group, Seventure and Creadev.
The company leads the growing in vivo cellular imaging market enabling physicians to visualize, diagnose and treat pathologies that cannot be seen using other imaging techniques. Mauna Kea Technologies' flagship Cellvizio(r) system provides microscopic visualization of mucosal tissue and promises to improve clinical outcomes by increasing the diagnostic yield of existing endoscopic procedures. With over 1,700 Cellvizio procedures completed to date, Mauna Kea Technologies is currently focused on the gastroenterology and pulmonology markets. The company plans to expand into other markets in the future. The company also has a distribution agreement with Leica Microsystems to sell products for the Small Animal Imaging market in Europe, the U.S. and Japan. For more information about Mauna Kea Technologies: www.maunakeatech.com