Excelsius Medical President George Huang (left) and ITRI’s Vice President and General Director of Biomedical Technology and Device Research Laboratories Chii-Wann Lin (right) signed an OCM technology transfer agreement on July 22, 2020.
The aging population in combination with the extensive use of electronic devices has led to an increase in eye disorders and diseases such as myopia, cataracts, and glaucoma. To provide more advanced eye surgery solutions, high-end ophthalmic surgery devices manufacturer Excelsius Medical incorporated minimally invasive femtosecond lasers to develop Small Incision Lenticule Extraction technology and licensed the OCM (Optical Coherence Microscopy) technology for optical biopsy of eye tissue from ITRI. This novel combination enables the world’s first simultaneous viewing of corneal cross-sectional images during surgery, making Excelsius Medical a gold winner of the Innovation Award at the Taipei Biotech Awards in 2018 and the Emerging Company of the Year in 2020 honored by the Taiwan Bio Industry Organization Awards. ITRI and Excelsius Medical will further their collaboration on the development of the OCM-embedded multi-functional high-precision ophthalmic system.
Dr. Chii-Wann Lin, Vice President and General Director of ITRI’s Biomedical Technology and Device Research Laboratories, indicated that refractive surgery procedures such as LASIK are common in reshaping cornea to improve vision. Herein refractive surgery equipment involving femtosecond and excimer technologies has a promising market outlook. In 2018, the market value of femtosecond laser surgery equipment reached 341 million USD, accounting for 54.2% of the overall ophthalmic laser market, and is expected to reach 529 million USD by 2023 with an estimated compound annual growth rate of 9.2%.
Dr. Lin stated that ITRI’s OCM technology can be integrated into Excelsius Medical’s femtosecond laser system, using non-invasive optical technology with a wavelength of 1300 nm to obtain real-time cross-sectional corneal images during surgery. This assists the surgeon in making prompt adjustments during operation and will make Excelsius Medical even more competitive in expanding the market share in cataract surgery, myopia presbyopia surgery and myopia prevention. In addition to ophthalmic applications, OCM technology can be used for skincare and evaluation of abnormal tissue.
Excelsius Medical President George Huang pointed out that a LASIK surgery is performed by using a microkeratome to create a corneal flap and then using an excimer laser to remove some tissue from the corneal to reshape it. However, this procedure is prone to uneven corneal cutting and may result in refractive complications. Leveraging ITRI’s strengths in hardware-software integration and optical technologies, Excelsius Medical has advanced its refractive excimer laser and ophthalmic femtosecond laser systems to eliminate the need for a microkeratome and allow more precise procedures with shorter operation time, lower surgical risks, fewer side effects and faster recovery time. This greatly benefits patients with myopia, presbyopia, and cataracts.
About Excelsius Medical
Excelsius Medical is a global major manufacturer of ophthalmic laser surgery instruments and diagnostic equipment. The company is committed to addressing unmet needs in the ophthalmic laser surgery market and providing ophthalmologists worldwide with safe, accurate, and automated technology solutions to treat eye disorders/diseases such as myopia, astigmatism, presbyopia, cataracts and corneal lesions. Located in the Tainan Science Park in Taiwan, Excelsius Medical is active in its marketing in the EU, India, Southeast Asia, South America, and the Middle East. The company has obtained ISO 13485 certification in Germany and Taiwan and is certified with CE marking for its excimer laser myopia surgical instrument. Currently, global multi-center human clinical trials with its femtosecond laser system are ongoing. Its subsidiary in Germany Excelsius Medical GmbH aims to be listed next year.