Insightec

Lotus Neuro Spins Out of Insightec to Develop Ultrasound-Based Therapy for Brain Cancer

Posted on by Techtime

Medical device company Insightec has announced the creation of a new spin-out, Lotus Neuro, dedicated to developing advanced therapies for brain tumors. The move is based on Insightec’s focused ultrasound technology and its clinically demonstrated ability to temporarily and precisely open the blood–brain barrier (BBB), enabling more effective delivery of drugs to brain tissue. The new company marks a strategic deepening of Insightec’s brain-therapy activities and aims to translate clinical insights accumulated over recent years into targeted therapeutic applications. Lotus Neuro will operate in the field of neuro-oncology, with an initial focus on glioblastoma—one of the most aggressive and lethal forms of brain cancer.

Internal Leadership and a Familiar Investor: The Spin-Out Structure

Lotus Neuro will be led by Dr. Arjun J.J. Desai, currently Chief Strategy Officer at Insightec, who will assume the role of founder and CEO of the new company. His designation as founder suggests that the spin-out was driven from within Insightec itself. The company has not disclosed whether Lotus Neuro will be based in Israel or how many employees it will initially employ.

The venture will be funded by Nexus NeuroTech Ventures, an investment firm well known to Insightec’s management and to the market. Nexus was among the key investors that backed Insightec in 2024, during a period of severe financial challenges that included a “going concern” warning and liquidity constraints that threatened the company’s continued operations. At the time, Nexus participated in a capital raise of approximately $150 million, helping stabilize Insightec’s financial position and ensure business continuity.

While the announcement did not disclose the size of Nexus’s investment in Lotus Neuro or its ownership stake, Nexus is the only investor named at this stage—suggesting it may hold a significant share in the new company. The spin-out may also reflect a strategic move by Nexus to unlock additional value from its investment in Insightec by opening a new therapeutic market built on the same underlying technology.

Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Tirat Carmel, Israel, Insightec operates in the U.S. and Europe as well. The company developed the Exablate system, an MRI-guided focused ultrasound device used for non-invasive treatments of neurological conditions such as essential tremor and Parkinson’s disease, as well as certain brain tumors.

From Liquid Biopsy to Therapy: The Clinical Foundation of Lotus Neuro

The scientific roots of the spin-out lie in the LIBERATE clinical trial launched in 2022, in which Insightec explored the use of low-intensity focused ultrasound in glioblastoma patients to enable liquid biopsy. Brain tumors present a unique challenge due to the blood–brain barrier, a natural defense mechanism that complicates both diagnosis and effective drug delivery.

In the trial, researchers demonstrated for the first time that ultrasound activation could enable the release of tumor-derived genetic material into the bloodstream, allowing diagnosis and disease monitoring without invasive procedures. This capability—initially observed as a byproduct of a diagnostic study—became the foundation for the spin-out.

If ultrasound can influence the tumor environment to allow materials to move outward, the same mechanism can potentially be harnessed to deliver drugs and biological therapies more effectively into the tumor itself. This is where Lotus Neuro enters the picture. The company will focus on developing combinations of ultrasound with existing and novel drugs, aiming to enhance their effectiveness in brain cancers where treatment options remain severely limited.

Glioblastoma is widely regarded as one of the greatest challenges in modern medicine, with poor survival rates and few effective therapies. Any technology that improves access to the tumor or boosts the efficacy of existing drugs could represent a meaningful breakthrough. For Insightec, the spin-out allows the company to remain focused on its role as a platform and medical device provider, while Lotus Neuro operates as a therapy-development company with broader scientific, strategic, and commercial flexibility.

In the background stands Nexus, which recently raised a large fund worth hundreds of millions of dollars for investments in advanced technologies, positioning Lotus Neuro as part of a broader strategy focused on deep, long-term innovation. The spin-out reflects not only technological progress, but also a calculated business move to extract new value from a technology that has already proven itself in clinical settings.

The FDA approved Insightec system for the treatment of advanced Parkinson

Posted on by Techtime

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Insightec’s system for treating advanced Parkinson Disease (PD) patients suffering from rigidity, mobility and dyskinesia symptoms. This is a significant expansion of Insightec’s system clinical indication, which until now was approved for treating PD patients experiencing essential tremor. Last month Insightec signed a merger agreement with a SPAC in order to list on Nasdaq with a company valuation of $2 billion. The new clinical indication extends the potential market for the company’s system. Currently, one million patients in the United States are coping with PD.

The system developed by Insightec is a minimally invasive surgery (MIS) technique, used for treating symptoms such as essential tremor and benign tumors in the uterus using focused ultrasound waves. Within the new clinical indication, Insightec’s system may be used as an incisionless method of performing a process called Pallidotomy, which is used to ablate a brain area called globus pallidus. Until now, the only method of performing Pallidotomy was to place a tiny electrical electrode in the globus pallidus, which is then heated and destroy a small area of brain cells. Using Insightec’s device, this process could be performed incisionlessly, by externally focusing the ultrasound waves to the target area. In many cases, this process reduces the severity of the patient’s symptoms.

Founded in 1999, Insightec developed the Exablate platform which provides non-invasive treatments for a variety of oncology and gynecology indications. Exablate Neuro uses focused ultrasound waves to target and ablate tissue deep in the brain with no surgical incisions or implants. The treatment is done under MRI guidance for real-time treatment monitoring.

In May 2017, Insightec received FDA Approval for Exablate Neuro fo the treatment of essential tremor. Following the approval Insightec has decided to initiate a pivotal study of the Exablate Neuro for treating dyskinesia symptoms or motor fluctuations of advanced Parkinson’s disease patients who have not responded to medication.

Parkinson’s disease afflicts millions of people worldwide, including approximately one million in the United States alone with 60,000 additional diagnoses each year. Treatment with the Exablate Neuro is intended to improve motor function and reduce dyskinesia, one debilitating symptom that presents as uncontrolled, involuntary movement of the arms and/or legs.