In 1882, Ralph Waldo Emerson stated; “If a man has good corn or wood,
or boards, or pigs, to sell, or can make better chairs or knives, crucibles
or church organs, than anybody else, you will find a broad hard-beaten road
to his house, though it be in the woods.”
In 1889, Emerson was credited with having said; “If a man can write a
better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mousetrap than his
neighbor ...”
Today the common phrasing is of course a metaphor about the power of
innovation -‘Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your
door.’
‘Better’ is a relative term. Every business, in every sector, is trying to
build a ‘better mousetrap.’ Unfortunately, just like the over 4,000 patents
for mouse traps, most are not better, they are just different in some small
way.
As far as real mousetraps go there has never been, at least for most of
us, a better way of killing mice then the spring loaded snap of the trap
caused by a mouse trying to take the bait off a trigger plate. Sure, glue on
a piece of cardboard might be an improvement for some who worry about getting
their fingers caught (and don’t care about a swift humane kill), or maybe a
‘mouse house’ trap for those who get queasy and don’t want to see a dead
rodent. But these are not big enough changes to want to make the majority of
us change from the existing, perfectly capable technology.
Most often those who claim to have invented the better mousetrap, real or
metaphorically speaking, haven’t - there just isn’t enough of a technological
change to force consumers, businesses or institutions to want to or need to
make a change. Call it incremental technology looking for a market.
The opposite end of the scale would be a change so great, a technological
change so much more efficient, so much more attractive a switch is made
without question – from 8-tracks to cassettes, to CDs. From black and white
TV to color. From bulky poor quality movies on VHS tapes to slim, lightweight
high quality optics on DVD’s. And of course programmable TVs with high def
(and movies on demand) came along and kicked the crap out of the DVD market.
These examples are all innovations that built upon an existing technology and
truly created better mousetraps that were universally accepted as such.
Failing to create a clear competitive advantage, doing almost exactly the
same thing as your competition, differentiating yourself by only a small
tweak to the existing dominate market share technology is no way to succeed
or even survive in business.
When you hear about a company touting ‘it’s better mousetrap’ ask
yourself:
Better for who - do people really need or want a better mousetrap? Is this
new mousetraps market growing, or shrinking?
Minimally invasive therapy
Minimally invasive therapy is becoming more and more common in hospitals.
These procedures are performed through tiny incisions (instead of one large
opening) or our body’s natural orifices. Patients, physicians, providers, and
payers have wholeheartedly embraced minimally invasive therapy for many
reasons:
- Minimally invasive therapy obviates the need for major
open-surgery procedures.
- Minimally invasive therapy produces much less of the
sequelae (a condition that is the consequence of a previous disease or
injury) of open surgery procedures.
- Minimally invasive therapy leaves minute scars versus
open-surgery procedures.
- Minimally invasive therapy results in shorter hospital
stays and reduced outpatient treatments.
- Minimally invasive therapy results in a much more rapid
return to normal activity.
- Reductions in length of hospitalization and the ability
to return to work much sooner are economically attractive.
- Minimally invasive therapy eliminates the need for
general anesthesia.
The endoscope is the main or central technological component of minimally
invasive therapy. However, the limited ability of today’s endoscopy
instruments to distinguish cancer from normal tissue is a well-documented
problem.
Visible light, or what we call “white light” has been utilized in
endoscopes for decades to guide the physician and surgeon so they can “see” the
cancer in the organ of interest and subsequently for biopsy and in the
removal of suspicious masses.
However, white light has visualization limitations for all
cancer types because white light cannot pass through tissue or blood and
cannot illuminate tumors beneath the skin surface.
If the surgeon does not remove all the cancerous growth and a few
cancerous cells remain, or does not remove all cancerous cells at the
margins, the tumor can grow back and spread or metastasize to other parts of
the body.
Another major problem with endoscopes that utilize only white light is
that malignant and premalignant tumors that are flat, or very small, may look
similar to normal tissues. As a result a physician may not be able to
identify some aggressive cancers. In order to be safe, physicians may have to
collect random and repeat biopsies as the only possible way to ensure that
cancer is not missed in high risk patients.
IME’s mousetrap
Imagin Medical’s (CSE: IME) (OTC PINK: IMEXF) Ultrasensitive i/Blue and
i/Red Imaging Systems use white light in conjunction with the Company’s
unique fluorescent wavelengths to radically improve the physicians ability to
visualize (detect) cancer.
This technology is estimated to increase sensitivity to an estimated 5
orders of magnitude (100,000 x) more than white light alone.
Beginning in 2010, the FDA approved blue laser light to be used with
various imaging agents, but only on a one-time per patient basis because of potentially
dangerous side effects. This limitation generally restricts physicians use of
imaging agents for the O.R. so they can take advantage of this one-time
opportunity to operate immediately, if and when cancer is found.
With the increased sensitivity of the Company’s i/Blue Imaging System, the
dosage of the imaging agent can be reduced by 99%, which means that
physicians can not only perform procedures in the O.R., but they can also
screen the same patient multiple times in the less-expensive office setting.
The smaller dose of the imaging agent is absorbed by the bladder in minutes,
versus one hour, improving the efficiency of the O.R. and the physician’s
office.
Additionally, physicians using today’s standard blue light need to switch
back and forth between the white light and blue light images, which is not
necessary with the i/Blue Imaging System that blends both lights into one
image.
The i/Red Imaging System, the Company’s next advancement, uses a unique
red laser light to illuminate the cancer and requires no imaging agents at
all. This breakthrough totally disruptive technology uses only the
fluorescence produced by the body and tumor itself.
The i/Red Imaging System will dramatically broaden the market to all
cancer specialists using any type of scopes.
Endoscope market
The global endoscopy market is currently valued at $46B. Imagin will be
initially focusing on a $500M segment of this market – bladder cancer.
According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) bladder cancer is the
sixth most common cancer in the United States and the third most common
cancer in men, with over 72,000 new cases diagnosed annually (380,000
worldwide). It is estimated that approximately 577,400 people are currently
living with bladder cancer in the United States, generating over 1,000,000
physician consultations per year, and that approximately 16,000 individuals
will die from the disease in 2015. Finding bladder cancer early improves the
chances that it can be treated successfully.
Bladder cancer facts:
- Low grade non-muscle bladder cancer has a reoccurrence
rate of 40%.
- High grade non-muscle bladder cancer has a reoccurrence
rate of 70%.
- The average reoccurrence rate for this type of cancer is
nearly 50%, which is one of the highest reoccurrence rates of all cancers.
- Bladder cancer is the most expensive cancer to treat in
the US.
- Bladder cancer represents 4.6% of all new cancer cases
in the U.S.
- In 2016, it is estimated that there will be 76,960 new
cases of bladder cancer and an estimated 16,390 people will die of this
disease.
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The demand for endoscopy as a tool in cancer detection has been increasing
significantly because of the growing preference for minimally invasive
surgeries, which reduce patients’ pain, speed recovery and reduce the overall
costs to the healthcare system.
The other factors that are driving the growth of the global endoscopy
equipment market include:
- Favorable reimbursement in select regions
- Aging population
- Increasing prevalence of diseases that require endoscopy
procedures
Conclusion
Earlier in the article I said you need to ask yourself a few questions
regarding a company’s claims to have invented a much improved mousetrap.
Q - Better for who - do people really need or want a
better mousetrap?
A - All of us want, and need, better medical devices,
safer more efficient less invasive and less time consuming medical
procedures.
Q - Is this new mousetraps market growing, or shrinking?
A -Once established in the bladder cancer market, and
within the urology community, Imagin will aggressively move into other
surgical disciplines. Also consider an aging western population.
The questions that needed to be asked, concerning IME’s endoscope
technology, have been asked and answered positively. There is a need, there
is a want, their markets will grow.
Imagin is an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a start up
business, one having built a truly better ‘mousetrap’ – a technology that is
a far superior product then the standard of care currently employed in an
almost US$50bil global endoscope market.
Imagin Medical needs to be on all our radar screens. Is it on yours?
If not, maybe it should be.
aheadoftheherd.com
Richard lives with his family on a 160 acre ranch in northern British
Columbia. He invests in the resource and biotechnology/pharmaceutical sectors
and is the owner of Aheadoftheherd.com.
Richard’s articles have been published on over 400 websites, including:
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Legal Notice / Disclaimer
This document is not and should not be construed as an offer to sell or
the solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe for any investment.
Richard Mills has based this document on information obtained from sources
he believes to be reliable but which has not been independently verified.
Richard Mills makes no guarantee, representation or warranty and accepts
no responsibility or liability as to its accuracy or completeness.
Expressions of opinion are those of Richard Mills only and are subject to
change without notice. Richard Mills assumes no warranty, liability or
guarantee for the current relevance, correctness or completeness of any
information provided within this Report and will not be held liable for the
consequence of reliance upon any opinion or statement contained herein or any
omission.
Furthermore, I, Richard Mills, assume no liability for any direct or
indirect loss or damage or, in particular, for lost profit, which you may
incur as a result of the use and existence of the information provided within
this Report.
Richard owns shares of Imagin Medical CSE: IME, OTC PINK: IMEXF
Imagin shares were bought for investment purposes. Richard may buy more or
sell (some or all) without notice.
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