Focalist is designed to be accessible throughout specialties and to assist meet the rising demand for needle-based interventions. | Supply: Mendaera
Mendaera Inc. in the present day introduced that it has acquired U.S. Meals and Drug Administration 510(ok) clearance for its Focalist handheld robotic system. The San Mateo, Calif.-based firm stated it designed Focalist to simplify and improve the precision of ultrasound-guided needle placement — a technically demanding process carried out throughout many specialties and care settings.
“Exact placement of needles to carry out a variety of procedures — organ entry, biopsies, vascular entry, or remedy supply, as examples — is a really difficult however foundational method that underpins most affected person care journeys,” acknowledged Josh DeFonzo, co-founder and CEO of Mendaera.
“Our mission is to make sure that these procedures are delivered safely and effectively throughout the healthcare system by enabling extra suppliers with the boldness wanted to carry out these strategies,” he added. “Robotics have been proven to extend supplier capabilities in complicated procedures, and we intend to display that the identical might be true in on a regular basis care.”
Mendaera claimed that it is constructing a brand new class of handheld robotics to make precision surgical procedure extra accessible throughout healthcare. The San Mateo, Calif.-based firm is backed by main traders and stated its management staff has been profitable in taking medical expertise corporations startups to profitable exits, corresponding to Auris Well being.
In September 2024, Mendaera raised $73 million in Sequence B funding. Threshold Ventures led the funding spherical. Lux Capital, PFM Well being Sciences, and Fred Moll, the founding father of Intuitive Surgical and Auris Well being, additionally participated within the spherical.
Mendaera targets frequent however tough procedures
Picture-guided procedures involving the location of needles or different interventional devices are a cornerstone of medical care. They’re utilized in tons of of thousands and thousands of affected person encounters globally annually.
Regardless of being commonplace, the success of those procedures is very depending on the operator’s coordination, spatial judgment, and expertise, famous Mendaera. These expertise are onerous to amass and differ considerably throughout suppliers and establishments, resulting in inconsistent affected person experiences and system-wide inefficiencies, it stated.
The corporate stated it designed Focalist to help exact and constant needle placement throughout a breadth of customers and scientific settings. The system integrates handheld management, real-time ultrasound imaging, and superior software program. The robotic additionally options touchscreen concentrating on, robotic needle positioning, and steady needle depth-tracking to allow reproducible minimally invasive procedures.
“Simplifying ultrasound-guided percutaneous entry is without doubt one of the most impactful methods to enhance effectivity, security, and independence in urology and past,” stated Dr. Gerhard J. Fuchs, professor of scientific urology on the College of Southern California. “Ultrasound steerage affords the advantages of diminished radiation and higher visualization of key anatomy, and when paired with robotics, can decrease the barrier to express entry and instrument placement.”
“Mendaera’s platform represents a significant evolution — one with the potential to broaden entry to minimally invasive procedures and elevate the usual of care,” he stated.
Focalist proceeds towards commercialization
The FDA has cleared Mendaera’s Focalist system to be used within the U.S. in diagnostic or therapeutic procedures with pediatric and grownup sufferers.
With the clearance, Mendaera is beginning a restricted launch of Focalist with choose medical establishments this 12 months. This launch will initially concentrate on makes use of in urology, corresponding to supporting procedures like percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL), the place exact entry to the kidney is required.
The firm plans to later increase to different specialties. Mendaera stated it anticipates full commercialization of the Focalist system in 2026.
