“What is coming is better than what is gone”
Proverb
My friends,
Today Tiresias would like to visit gastroenterology, again. Gastroenterology was once the application in Optiscan’s application universe. Pentax had contracted Optiscan to develop and deploy the Optiscan confocal microscope via the endoscope for endoscopic in-vivo digital biopsy of the upper GI tract and colon. Optiscan rose to the challenge to further miniaturise the confocal microscope for GI endoscopes. Hundreds of studies were done around the world and the technology was and has been already deployed in a number of hospitals in America, Europe, and around the world. Optiscan’s share price was above 40 cents. GI application had FDA approval, and CE Mark. The future looked bright. But alas, then the proverbial hit the fan.
What occurred had nothing to do with Optiscan. Without going into detail, Pentax, whose main product at that time was cameras, blew up. Not only the cameras, as were then used, were essentially obsolete, but a corporate scandal and a fine from US regulator, put Pentax in serious trouble. Pentax was taken over by Hoya, another Japanese technology company. Then the GFC hit. Hoya, like many companies at the time, cut costs. Everything in Hoya that was not making a profit was stopped dead. All research and development were abandoned. Digital endomicroscopy projected stopped dead. The future for Optiscan looked very bleak. The share price tanked. Fortunately, just at that time, Carl Zeiss wanted Optiscan’s technology for neurosurgery. It was a financial lifeline for Optiscan and survived on a drip feed from Carl Zeiss and the long-suffering shareholders.
The GI endomicroscopes, still in some of the leading centres in America, Europe, and around the world, are still out there. They are still being used. They are aging legacy equipment. But the publications continue, and the users await the return of the king. My friends, gastroenterology beckons once again. It only needs another endoscope maker to take up Optiscan massively improved technology. This must be on Optiscan’s agenda. The potential application in cancer screening for ulcerative colitis, Barrett’s oesophagus, and in many gastrointestinal conditions, is just too compelling.
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