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Research: Healthcare
Creo Medical has marked another milestone in advancing utility of its electrosurgical devices with the first use of its MicroBlate Flex device in a robotic-guided lung tissue ablation procedure (as part of an ongoing clinical study). Although not disclosed by the company, we believe this procedure was performed on Creo’s Kamaptive technology partner Intuitive Surgical’s ION bronchoscopy-focused robotics platform. Proving and expanding compatibility with robotic platforms has been an overarching goal for Creo and we see this as a notable step towards achieving this. The successful procedure also bodes well for the company’s partnership with Intuitive Surgical, which holds an estimated 57% market share in robotic surgical systems and has an installed base of 534 ION systems, indicative of the sizeable market opportunity for Creo. For reference the lung cancer therapeutic market size is estimated at $28bn in 2022 and is expected to reach c $60bn by 2032.
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Creo Medical |
MicroBlate Flex progresses with first robotics use |
Clinical update |
Healthcare equipment |
4 March 2024 |
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Creo Medical is a research client of Edison Investment Research Limited |
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Creo Medical has marked another milestone in advancing utility of its electrosurgical devices with the first use of its MicroBlate Flex device in a robotic-guided lung tissue ablation procedure (as part of an ongoing clinical study). Although not disclosed by the company, we believe this procedure was performed on Creo’s Kamaptive technology partner Intuitive Surgical’s ION bronchoscopy-focused robotics platform. Proving and expanding compatibility with robotic platforms has been an overarching goal for Creo and we see this as a notable step towards achieving this. The successful procedure also bodes well for the company’s partnership with Intuitive Surgical, which holds an estimated 57% market share in robotic surgical systems and has an installed base of 534 ION systems, indicative of the sizeable market opportunity for Creo. For reference the lung cancer therapeutic market size is estimated at $28bn in 2022 and is expected to reach c $60bn by 2032.
Year, end |
Revenue (£m) |
PBT* |
EPS* |
DPS |
P/E |
Yield |
12/21 |
25.2 |
(29.7) |
(14.6) |
0.0 |
N/A |
N/A |
12/22 |
27.2 |
(31.0) |
(14.9) |
0.0 |
N/A |
N/A |
12/23e |
30.8** |
(24.3) |
(6.6) |
0.0 |
N/A |
N/A |
12/24e |
40.8 |
(14.8) |
(3.5) |
0.0 |
N/A |
N/A |
Note: *PBT and EPS are normalised, excluding amortisation of acquired intangibles, exceptional items and share-based payments.**Revenue figure is as reported.
MicroBlate Flex is a flexible, small diameter microwave ablation device designed for minimally-invasive soft tissue ablation. The device received FDA 510(k) clearance in 2021 (CE mark received in 2020) and is currently being evaluated for safety and feasibility in the treatment of lung lesions as part of a muti-site, post-market clinical study (announced in March 2023). The first-in-human procedure was performed in May 2023 by principal investigator, Professor Pallav L Shah, at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London, and this latest update marks the first robotics-assisted procedure using MicroBlate Flex. The procedure was used to ablate a 27mm cancerous nodule from a patient’s lung, in less than three minutes.
Robotics-assisted procedures are a coveted goal in cancer treatment, given the greater precision rates and ability to excise small and hard-to-reach nodules and tumours using minimally invasive methods, greatly improving recovery rates and reducing hospitalisation expenses. The said procedure using MicroBlate Flex was performed in the same sitting as a diagnostic procedure, highlighting the utility of such systems in developing more efficient patient care and improving outcomes.
We believe the procedure was conducted using Creo’s Kamaptive technology partner Intuitive Surgical’s ION robotics platform, with an installed base of 534 robots (including at the Royal Brompton Hospital) and 54,000 procedures conducted in 2023. Creo signed a multi-year collaboration with Intuitive Surgical in May 2022 and MicroBlate Flex’s utility with the ION robotics system appears to be the first of potential additional collaborations. Should the collaboration roll-over to include Intuitive’s da Vinci systems (installed base of 8,606 systems), the market opportunity can be materially larger. We note that Creo is entitled to milestone and royalty payments as part of the collaboration (c £1.8m licensing fee in 2023). We view this as an exciting development and await further updates from the company.
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Research: Healthcare
Ultimovacs’ results from the Phase II NIPU trial for its universal, off-the-shelf cancer vaccine UV1 in second-line metastatic pleural mesothelioma (MPM) have been published in the European Journal of Cancer, a well-regarded peer-reviewed journal. NIPU is one of the company’s five Phase II programmes for UV1, used in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). The publication highlighted the growing utility of the combination approach and reiterated the promising efficacy of UV1 with the ICIs ipilimumab and nivolumab (IPI-NIVO), which improved overall survival of patients (27% reduction in risk of death versus IPI-NIVO alone). We await further clarity on the upcoming Phase III trial, but expect clinical activity to commence within 2024. This month will be important for the company as anticipation builds toward the upcoming results from the Phase II INITIUM trial in malignant melanoma.