September 16, 2011 — GE Healthcare and Veran Medical Technologies Inc. announced they have formed a strategic alliance to advance and co-develop navigation technologies for interventional procedures to improve care and management of cancer patients. Building on the alliance, the GE Healthymagination Fund, an equity fund that invests in promising healthcare technology companies, is investing in Veran. The financial terms were undisclosed.
Veran manufactures the ig4 navigation system, which integrates multi-modality information at the point of care in the interventional suite, combining that information with electromagnetic tracking of instruments with imbedded sensors. The system aims to provide interventional clinicians with the best information when they need it most: when they are steering an instrument inside the human body to perform an oncologic intervention such as cancer biopsy and ablation.
GE Healthcare is a provider of comprehensive X-ray imaging solutions giving clinicians the tools they need for image-based diagnosis and minimally invasive therapy. The strategic alliance between the two businesses, combined with expanded capabilities in product research and development, will accelerate development of high-value integrated technologies for the diagnosis and care of suspected cancer patients.
Earlier this year, GE Healthcare became the exclusive distributor and reseller of the ig4 navigation system in the United States. The system is compatible with GE’s Innova imaging systems, which acquire CT-like patient images of the target organ(s). The images can then be exported to the navigation system in the same imaging suite, during the same interventional procedure. The resulting displayed image provides navigation information to help physicians insert biopsy needles, ablation (RF, cryotherapy, and microwave) probes and other devices through the skin more quickly.
For more information: www.gehealthcare.com or www.veranmedical.com
January 18, 2022 
