Lumenis gains licensing rights to new laser therapy

Lumenis Ltd. gained exclusive worldwide licensing rights to SRT, a new laser therapy for selectively treating retinal diseases. The company received the rights from Medizinisches Laserzentrum Lübeck GmbH, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Reginald Birngruber, PhD, chairman of the Medizinisches Laserzentrum Lübeck, Germany, and visiting professor at Harvard Medical School, Boston.

SRT selectively targets and confines the treatment to the retinal pigment epithelium at the back of the retina. Little heat is generated, so the surrounding photoreceptors are not damaged.

"The potential application for this new technology, namely diabetes and age-related macular degeneration, is massive and growing," said Avner Raz, Lumenis president and chief executive officer. "We believe SRT's positive impact on ophthalmologists and their patients will signify a watershed event in the field of retinal laser technology."

Lumenis also entered separate research agreements with Dr. Birngruber and Mark Latina, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital. The company will provide a grant to Charles Win, PhD, of Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, to advance the development of SRT.

The company is currently conducting research into laser system designs. Later this year, Lumenis would like to start an expanded international multicenter clinical study. Current research activities and long-term clinical studies will determine the timing of market introduction of a commercial product.

"Based on our company's 40-year history of ophthalmic laser innovation, we are uniquely qualified to develop and produce SRT for global distribution," said Raz.