Xenocor
Disposable HD Laparoscopes

It was well past midnight, when Dr. John Langell, a general surgeon and founder of Xenocor, was awakened by the beeping of his pager. Out of habit, he turned on his iPhone, and it suddenly struck him that the LED light of his iPhone was as bright as conventional laparoscopy light sources. The realization that today’s technology has come a long way sparked an idea that gradually took wings to revolutionize the legacy laparoscopic technology that has prevailed for more than three decades. “We have developed the world’s first single-use, fog free HD laparoscopic system, which is poised to overcome the barriers of high capital cost in the current laparoscopic system market,” says Evan Kelso, CEO of Xenocor.

Xenocor’s disposable laparoscope, Xenoscope, is available in 10mm and 5mm scopes. The 5mm device is a deflectable scope, which means that the surgeon can articulate it inside the patient’s body. Xenocor’s value proposition lies in making minimally invasive surgical approaches more accessible to millions of patients by lowering upfront costs while increasing patient safety. As opposed to the huge capital expenditure incurred in buying a whole lot of equipment necessary to perform the conventional laparoscopic procedures, Xenocor solves for this market headwind with a simple, cost-effective solution. Xenoscope comes with integrated LED lights and a 1080p high definition camera. “A plug-and-play HD image processing adaptor, Xenobox, is all that is required to view the images on any HD monitor or tablet,” explains Tony Watson, VP of sales and marketing, Xenocor. The company is also set to forge strategic partnerships with leading manufacturers of insufflators, graspers, scissors, and energy sources used in laparoscopy.

The greatest benefit, however, is on the clinical front where Xenoscope completely eliminates the chances of endoscopy-related disease transmission because the scopes are not reprocessed to be used from one patient to the next.

Another compelling advantage is that Xenocor has done away with all the adjunct devices and processes in place in the operating room to address fogging, which can cost time and effort and take the surgeons’ eyes off the critical anatomy. In the same vein, Kelso draws attention to a particular case where the surgeons moved from a standard laparoscope to a Xenoscope in the middle of a procedure due to fogging of the scope and successfully completed the surgery. “Xenoscope was the right choice not only because it was fog-proof, but the switchover was easy as Xenobox can be easily plugged into their existing laparoscopy tower in the operating room,” says Kelso.

In yet another instance, in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic and the prevailing infection control concerns, a hospital wanted to treat patients at the bedside if possible, instead of moving them to the OR and so wanted disposable laparoscopes. In such ascenario, Xenoscope proved to be the ideal choice.

The Xenoscope system is FDA cleared for the 5mm and 10mm scopes and CE Marked for the 10mm scope. And the company is ramping up production to meet the high demand from customers both inside and outside the U.S.

Xenocor’s commercialization plan is centered on opening doors for all the ambulatory surgery centers, hospitals, and medical outreach organizations that need to outfit their ORs with laparoscopic equipment but are unable to do so as they are strapped for capital. On a similar note, laparoscopy is unavailable in 80 percent of countries for the simple reason that they are unable to surmount the cost barrier, a surprising fact given that the laparoscopic technology has been around since 1987.

“We solve all these problems because, with our system, surgeons can start doing procedures from day one and drive revenue,” says Kelso. “Our goal is to unlock the benefits of the novel laparoscopic technology for everyone.”