Inventing Patents For You

Since its establishment in 2014, Rambam MedTech Ltd. has served as the technology transfer company of Rambam Health Care Campus. Rambam MedTech is responsible for the innovation and intellectual property (IP) belonging to Rambam's doctors and scientists. The company's vision is to support the groundbreaking and innovative research by doctors and scientists at Rambam, as well as the nursing staff, and transform these new ideas into leading medical products at an international level. Rambam MedTech encourages and promotes inventions and innovative thinking, identifies innovative ideas, and guarantees funding for initial development and commercialization of IP through licensing to experienced business partners or by establishing spin-off companies. The Chair of Rambam MedTech is Professor Michael (Miki) Halbertal, director of the hospital, and the CEO is Dr. Roee Atlas, who joined it in 2019.

In his role, Dr. Atlas has led dozens of commercialization agreements for pre-seed and seed technologies developed at Rambam with various companies in the medical field. "Since 2014," Dr. Atlas says, "Rambam MedTech has been involved in establishing 15 startup companies based on technologies from Rambam researchers, and led the commercialization of about 25 technologies in the biotech industry for further development, as well as creating partnerships with companies in collaborative applied research with the industry."

As part of Rambam MedTech's activity, a joint accelerator was established with Road2, a company that leads innovation in the Haifa area, to promote hospital technologies as well as external medical technologies. Two technologies that originated at Rambam have become active companies in the accelerator. Rambam MedTech operates an internal incubator in the hospital where processes of creating business plans, patent protection and investment in the initial product prototype are carried out. "Collaborations are essential for a technology transfer company, and Rambam MedTech collaborates with its counterparts in other institutions, such as the Technion, to build cooperation around applied ideas. Rambam MedTech also established the MindUp Digital Health Incubator in 2015 together with IBM, Pitango and Medtronic, and three Rambam technologies have become active companies in the incubator."

Why did the hospital establish a commercialization company instead of handling commercializing itself?
Dr. Atlas explains: "A hospital cannot, by definition, sell technologies. Its purpose is to treat and heal patients. That is why the state decided to establish dedicated commercialization companies in the large government hospitals – companies registered with the Companies Registrar and with regulatory flexibility as a limited liability company – whose role is to develop the intellectual property (the patent) created in the hospital, improve it and commercialize it to pharmaceutical and medical companies for further development to obtain an approved product. From the sales of this product by the companies, Rambam MedTech receives royalties that are shared by the inventors, the hospital, and the Ministry of Health."

The commercialization company model in institutions such as hospitals and universities around the world has existed since the 1960s. One well-known example is the commercialization of intellectual property rights for Copaxone, for the treatment of multiple sclerosis by Yeda – the Weizmann Institute's commercialization company – to Teva in the 1990s.

"Rambam MedTech also forms collaborations with companies from industry to jointly develop new intellectual property. This allows the hospital to promote groundbreaking ideas from its staff to improve patient care. The technologies that the medical staff works with and uses with patients are not perfect, and the staff– which is at the forefront of treatment – is the first to identify problems and also has the knowledge to offer solutions," he adds. Rambam MedTech's activity in developing technologies, writing patents, and commercializing to external companies for further development contribute both to creating better technologies for the future, both to the medical staff that is given the freedom to create, and to the hospital that receives revenues from commercialization, all of which are dedicated to improving patient care.

A Revolutionary Biopsy Device
With the assistance and cooperation of Rambam MedTech, Dr. Iyad Khamaysi, Director of the Advanced Endoscopy Unit at Rambam in the Gastroenterology Department, founded a company to develop the biopsy device he invented.

The company, Limaca Medical, was established thanks to funding from Trendlines Investment Group, which continued the development of the revolutionary device. After about 6 years of research and development at Limaca in the Trendlines incubator, clinical trials and building a regulatory pathway, the Precision™ EUS biopsy device received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and product sales are currently expanding in the U.S. and worldwide.

How was the innovative solution born?
"Dr. Khamaysi often found himself questioning traditional pancreatic biopsy techniques, which provided less than optimal results because there was insufficient tissue to analyze for cancer markers. When he looked for possible solutions, he realized that pancreatic tissue samples could be taken in the same way that the inner 'flesh' is removed from small zucchinis before filling them. A device similar in shape to a wide needle is pushed into the center of the vegetable, and then with a quick twist, the inside of the zucchini comes out in one piece. Rambam MedTech's team immediately understood the significance of Dr. Khamaysi's idea and helped him throughout the entire process of patent development, feasibility testing, as well as commercialization of the technology to enable extracting a sufficient biopsy sample from the pancreas."

"Rambam MedTech invited someone from the Trendlines investment group to talk to us," recalled Dr. Khamaysi. "They encouraged us and I liked their ideas. A collaboration agreement was signed between me, Rambam MedTech and Trendlines. Everything progressed quickly from there."

Among the outstanding achievements of Rambam MedTech is the Nevia Bio company, which develops a precise technology for diagnosing ovarian cancer, based on an algorithm and analysis of proteins in the vaginal fluid.

The technology enables accurate at-home testing for women in high-risk groups and was commercialized to the MindUp incubator, which invested heavily in further development; it is currently in advanced clinical trials. Another innovative development was in collaboration with Caps Medical and the Technion – using cold ionized plasma flow through an endoscope to treat cancerous lesions without damaging the healthy tissue. The company recently completed its activities in the Medex incubator, raised additional funds, and began clinical trials.

Corrected Voice Sample for Children
A new company that was recently set up is the result of collaboration with Bar Ilan University that led to the founding of Artica, which is developing a groundbreaking algorithm for identifying speech problems in children. After identification, the speech problem is corrected in the child's voice. The corrected voice sample leads to greater identification by the child, commitment to treatment, and success in correcting the disorder, all, of course, under the guidance of a speech therapist.

Nearly a decade since its establishment, Rambam MedTech's vision is to engage more and more staff members to take part in creative and innovative processes, and to strive for a significant commercialization deal of groundbreaking technology. The revenue will be reinvested in research and development at Rambam, including expanded support for spin-off companies.

To the Rambam MedTech website>>

In collaboration with Rambam MedTech