The World Economic Forum appointed a panel of leading technology experts to select the finalists from a pool of 273 nominees.
InSightec's vision is to develop the next-generation, non-invasive, outpatient operating room that minimizes trauma, morbidity and recovery time.
The company's ExAblateš 2000 is the world's first and only non-invasive surgery system to combine focused ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging.
"We believe this non-invasive technology has the potential to become one of the major forms of surgery within the next 20 years, helping improve millions of lives without the long hospitalizations, extended recovery times, side effects, complication risks and extensive costs associated with invasivesurgery," said Dr. Kobi Vortman, InSightec's President and CEO. "We're pleased that the World Economic Forum has recognized ExAblate's potential with this prestigious designation."
ExAblate received its European CE Marking in 2002 and U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval in 2004 for treating uterine fibroids, a pervasive condition that impacts up to 70% of women of childbearing age and leads to serious symptoms.
The ExAblate procedure takes about three to four hours and allows the patient to go home the same day and return to normal activities within a day or two. Hysterectomy, the most common treatment for this condition, is major surgery, requiring two to five days of hospitalization, six to eight weeks of recovery and generates significant complications. Many women have chosen to suffer from the severe symptoms that fibroids cause rather than undergo hysterectomies or other invasive procedures.
Uterine fibroids carry a significant economic burden in terms of the cost of treatment, hospitalization and work absenteeism. Since the ExAblate procedure is performed on an outpatient basis without any hospitalization and allows the patient to return to normal activity with in one to two days, it offers cost and comfort advantages to patients, healthcare providers and employers as compared with other treatment modalities. InSightec has launched an extensive research program to conduct clinical trials using this technology in various cancerous applications including breast, bone metastases, liver, brain and prostate, while continuing clinical trials in uterine fibroids.
InSightec Ltd.has been cited by the World Economic Forum as one of its Technology Pioneers for 2008. Technology Pioneers are companies developing and applying technologies deemed highly transformational and innovative in the areas of energy, biotechnology and health and information technology.