EndoCapsule Gets FDA Clearance

Olympus Medical Systems has received marketing clearance from the FDA for its EndoCapsule endoscope system, reports the Globes. We covered this endoscopic system in two previous posts: May ’05 Capsule Endoscope by Olympus, and Oct ’05 Olympus Launches High-resolution Endo Capsule System in Europe.
The EndoCapsule system is now the main competitor to a highly successful PillCam capsular endoscopy system from Israel’s Given Imaging. Gil Shlomo of the Globes believes that in the short term, this development will deal a blow to Given’s market domination, because of Olympus’s strong marketing reach. In the long term, the outlook for both companies is good, since a large world-wide company like Olympus will expand the horizons of the capsule endoscopy market, and the technology will find greater acceptance among clinicians and patients alike.

What’s also not clear is whether Given will follow up on its earlier warning to litigate Olympus for alleged infractions of its patents.
Globes: Given Imaging rival wins FDA approval …