YGEN.L Regulatory News (YGEN)

18 Nov 2005 07:00

Original Investments PLC18 November 2005 Original Investments PLC ("Original Investments" or "the Company") Commercial product launch from Acrobot Visualisation software, enabling orthopaedic surgeons to producethree-dimensional bone surface models from Computed Tomography (CT) scans forpre-operative surgical planning, is launched today by The Acrobot Company("Acrobot"). Acrobot is a spin-out company from Imperial Innovations, the technologycommercialization company of Imperial College, London, and develops surgicalsystems for minimally-invasive, bone-conserving orthopaedic surgery. TheAIM-quoted company Original Investments (formerly BioProjects International)owns 25% of Acrobot's equity. The new software, called the Acrobot(R) Planner, is Acrobot's first commercialproduct and is being provided free of charge to surgeons who register to use it.Acrobot will receive fees for data preparation and bone modeling. The Acrobot(R) Planner gives the user the ability to visualise a patient's threedimensional bone surface models built from CT scans. The visualisation isinteractive and the user can select and position implant models onto the bones,evaluate the resulting range of motion, and produce reports. "The software will enable surgeons to assess accurately the exact requirementfor each operation and precisely plan the procedure beforehand," says Dr. PaulaGomes, Acrobot's Director of Operations. "It will help to reduce surgicalerrors, surgeon's stress, and overall procedure costs and times. Radiologistswill also use the software to produce enhanced reports." Further uses for the software will be as a powerful tool for teaching and alsogenerating visual material for presentations. Acrobot provides a commercial service for Acrobot(R) Planner users by taking theraw CT DICOM data, segmenting them and building bone surface models from theinformation. The user can import these patient-specific models into thesoftware, and perform hip resurfacing pre-operative surgical planning and/ orimpingement analysis. The data processing service removes the need for the userto be involved in time-consuming routine data preparation tasks. The Acrobot(R) Planner has been developed by the Acrobot team at the company'slaboratories in London's Leathermarket. It is the first of a number of relatedproducts to be produced by Acrobot, which was founded six years ago by ImperialInnovations as a collaboration to combine the skills of clinicians andacademics. Acrobot is initially focusing on developing precision surgical systems forminimally-invasive techniques in knee and hip replacement. With each product theoverall aims are to reduce error, increase accuracy and enable more difficultsculpted surfaces to be achieved for the new generation of 'resurfacing' orpartial joint implants. Products planned for launch in 2006 include the Acrobot(R) Navigation System,which provides visual guidance for the surgeon and is now undergoing regulatoryapproval, and the Acrobot Hands-On Robotic System, which has already beensuccessfully proven in clinic for unicompartmental knee arthroplasty. "We are delighted that our faith in Acrobot is beginning to bear commercialfruit," said Terry Bond, managing director of Original Investments. "Four yearsago we were the first investors outside Imperial College to provide seed-cornfunding for the company and we have continued to support it through the variousstages of its development." Further information on Original Investments PLC from Terry Bond, ManagingDirector, 01235 834734. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange