Medical device firm acquires Pa. company, hopes for growth
Photo/Robert M. Cook
Dennis Leiner, president of Lighthouse Imaging Corp. in Portland, holds endoscope video couplers, part of the company's endoscopy technology
Medical instruments firm Lighthouse Imaging Corp. in downtown Portland is preparing for significant growth after company President Dennis Leiner acquired a Pennsylvania firm and its infrared endoscope patents in January.
Leiner says he was one of three shareholders in Vipera Systems when he learned last year the owner wanted to sell. He seized the opportunity because Lighthouse Imaging was already working on Vipera Systems' infrared endoscopes.
Within two years, Leiner says Lighthouse Imaging could successfully develop the infrared endoscope video adaptor technology that Vipera Systems had previously patented. He says the acquisition of Vipera Systems' assets represents "one more piece of the pie for Lighthouse" and a potential new product line. The company was recently recognized as the 2010 Innovator of the Year by the Maine International Trade Center during its Trade Day event at the Samoset Resort in Rockport in June.
He explains that minimally invasive surgical procedures, or laparoscopic surgery, currently utilize instruments that cannot always detect everything that needs to be removed or addressed in a patient's body. The infrared technology senses heat and detects small differences in heat to identify things like gall stones or diseased tissue, giving surgeons the means to better identify what needs to be treated, preventing repeat surgeries.
"What many people want to invent are ways to compensate for that deficiency," Leiner says.
Now that he owns the patents, Leiner says he can complete the development of the technology. The company's generation three device is 85% through the development phase, after completion of the generation two device.
"There's no market for it, which is not necessarily a bad thing," Leiner says. "It's scary because we don't have competition."
The company is banking on word of mouth to build its client base. Leiner is confident that the company will have plenty of customers once the product is used in the health care industry. Typically, Leiner says that is how demand and sales for his niche endoscope and measuring instrument products tends to take off.
Leiner would not disclose how much he paid to acquire Vipera Systems or the four patents for the infrared endoscope technology. He also would not reveal any specifics about the company's sales revenue in 2009.
"We had record-breaking sales in 2009," says Leiner. His company employs six people. He says the company recently hired another engineer and "I do see us hiring more."
Leiner, who founded his company in 1984, says he is very conservative when it comes to growing his business and his strategy calls for Lighthouse Imaging to "grow on a smooth curve."
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