www.endostart.com
info@endostart.com

Certaldo (FI), Italy

Endostart is an Italian company founded in 2018, which has developed a medical device for digestive endoscopy to solve the problem of difficult or incomplete colonoscopies.

With around 50 million procedures performed each year on a global scale, colonoscopy represents the Gold Standard in the screening, diagnosis and treatment of precancerous and cancerous lesions of the colon. The completion of colonoscopy, certified by the achievement and visualisation of the cecum, remains of utmost importance today in order to ensure optimal cancer risk control.

Endostart has developed a revolutionary endoscopic instrument, to be used on an as-needed basis, which aims to make colonoscopy faster, easier and more effective when it is difficult or lengthy.

Commonly, colonoscopies are defined as difficult when they last longer than 10 minutes. In most cases, these are due to the formation of colonic loops that do not allow the colonoscope to progress and make the examination longer and more traumatic. Difficult colonoscopies have a higher risk of being incomplete. The latter account for between 4 and 15 per cent of the total (50M worldwide to date); the increased preference for minimally invasive endoscopic procedures and the global geriatric population are key factors driving demand for endoscopes for the diagnosis and treatment of colic disorders. The global endoscopy devices market was $35.14 billion in 2018 with a CAGR of 7.4% from 2019 to 2025.

The market need is therefore to:

• Ensure the rapid completion of difficult colonoscopies and prevent incomplete colonoscopies
• Avoid diagnostic and therapeutic delays and related healthcare costs.

Endorail® consists of a disposable kit and a multi-use magnetic handpiece. Included in the kit is a balloon catheter that can be inserted into the operative channel of the endoscope during colonoscopy and filled with a ferromagnetic mixture. The balloon can then be magnetically anchored by placing the magnetic handpiece on the patient’s abdomen. The catheter then functions as a guide to easily resolve colic loops and complete the colonoscopy. The technology also aims to reduce the time required to perform difficult colonoscopies, as well as pain, patient discomfort and healthcare costs.

The company, after obtaining the CE mark in July 2022, completed a European multicentre clinical trial aimed at FDA submission in August 2023.