RADIO J. CE LUNDI EN DIRECT A 7H05. Chronique High Tech de Daniel Rouach.
Basée à Yokneam, ForSight Robotics s’impose comme une force majeure dans le monde de la chirurgie oculaire. La particularité de ForSight Robotics réside dans sa combinaison de robotique microchirurgicale, d’imagerie informatique et d’apprentissage automatique.
L’évolution des techniques en chirurgie oculaire impose désormais une précision et une dextérité qui touchent aux limites humaines. Un des intérêts des prototypes de robot de chirurgie de segment postérieur est d’avoir une précision supérieure à celle de l’homme qui présente physiologiquement un tremblement d’environ 100 m pouvant être transmis à l’extrémité des instruments.
Des robots d’assistance directe ou de co-manipulation permettent de compenser ces tremblements afin d’augmenter la précision du geste chirurgical. En effet, la main du chirurgien ne tient plus directement l’instrument intraoculaire, mais un joystick qui commande le robot, ce qui permet d’augmenter la précision du geste par l’intermédiaire de systèmes de démultiplication du mouvement (les mouvement à faire avec joystick sont de bien plus grande amplitude que le geste intra-oculaire transmis par le robot), de filtres anti-tremblement, le tout en respectant des zones de sécurité que l’instrument ne peut franchir via le contrôle en direct par l’imagerie en OCT peropératoire. L’ensemble du système apporte donc précision et sécurité.
ForSight Robotics founders.
(Shlomi Yosef)
Based in Yokneam, ForSight Robotics is emerging as a major force in the world of eye surgery. With a small but growing team of 105 employees, this Israeli company—led by CEO Dr. Daniel Glozman, Chief Scientific Professor Moshe Shoham, and President and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Joseph Nathan—aims to revolutionize the field and address the global shortage of skilled eye surgeons.
The uniqueness of ForSight Robotics lies in its combination of microsurgical robotics, computer imaging, and machine learning.
Behind the company stands a wealth of experience and deep expertise in medical robotics. Dr. Fred Moll and Rony Abovitz, members of Forsight’s strategic board of directors, along with co-founder Prof. Shoham, are among the founding fathers of some of the world’s most successful medical robotics companies, including Intuitive Surgical (maker of the da Vinci surgical robot), Mako Surgical, and Mazor Robotics. The company’s clinical advisory board features leading figures in the field of ophthalmology, such as Dr. David Chang and Prof. Boris Malyugin, highlighting the high level of trust in ForSight’s innovative technology.
The need for ForSight Robotics’ solution is growing rapidly. Timely microsurgical eye procedures can prevent blindness, but they require an exceptionally high level of skill—leading to a severe global shortage of qualified surgeons. In developed countries, there are an average of 72 eye surgeons per million people; in developing countries, the figure drops to just 3.7. It is estimated that around 2.2 billion people worldwide suffer from preventable vision impairment, resulting in trillions of dollars in lost productivity and treatment costs every year.
Dr. Joseph Nathan, one of the company’s founders, explains the motivation behind ForSight Robotics: « As an ophthalmologist and an engineer, I understood that technology was needed to improve the level of surgery and bridge the huge gap caused by the shortage of doctors. » The collaboration with Prof. Moshe Shoham, a pioneer in medical robotics and founder of Mazor Robotics, and Dr. Daniel Glozman, who has extensive industry experience, led to the founding of ForSight Robotics five years ago.
The company’s robotic platform has already undergone three generations of development and is designed to perform all types of eye surgeries. Its first focus will be on cataract surgery, a condition affecting around 600 million people worldwide, while only about 30 million procedures are performed annually. With the aging global population and rising rates of diabetes and obesity, the demand for surgeries is expected to surge even as the number of available ophthalmologists declines. « There is no human way to bridge this gap, » emphasizes Dr. Nathan. « We are developing a platform that provides 10 times the accuracy of the human hand, and accuracy here is critical. »
ForSight Robotics’ ambitions extend beyond improving surgical accuracy and efficiency. The company ultimately aims to integrate artificial intelligence into its platform to fully automate surgeries under human supervision. « Laser vision correction works in a similar way, » notes Dr. Nathan.
While the long-term goal is to become a dominant player in the field, a future sale is not ruled out. Dr. Nathan believes that if ForSight reaches the commercialization stage following FDA approval, it could achieve a record-breaking valuation—and possibly become the largest medical device exit in Israeli history.
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