Introducing a new generation of robotic single-use colonoscopes

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Early detection is crucial to improve survival from colorectal diseases, including cancer with over 881000 deaths/year globally) and inflammatory bowel diseases (affecting millions). Colonoscopy, performed using a flexible endoscope, is the best method to identify disease and perform minor surgical interventions. Unfortunately, it comes with notable drawbacks: patient pain, long training required for operators and high costs from the technology, staffing & specialised infrastructure. This has a number of impacts including limited procedure accessibility, resulting in uncurbed demand for colonoscopy and economic burden. In the UK, 25% of patients wait more than 4 weeks to have their colonoscopy and 2 in 10 individuals are not attending colonoscopies even if tested positive by at-home tests. This is exacerbated by US Preventive Services Task Force guidelines recommending screening colonoscopy to begin at 45 instead of 50 years of age, increasing the potential screening population to 44 million individuals, in the US alone. Atlas Endoscopy aims at revolutionising colonoscopy by introducing the REN platform - a magnetic colonoscopy system composed of a robot and a single-use endoscope. Our mission is to save lives by making colonoscopy more accessible to the population. We will do this by improving on the drawbacks of conventional flexible endoscopes. After 15 years of academic research, more than 30 peer reviewed papers (including Nature and Science), extensive pre-clinical testing and the creation of a spin-off, Atlas Endoscopy is ready to transform that research into a product, creating the technology required to effectively and safely deploy REN in hospitals for the benefit of patients, clinicians and the wider healthcare system. This grant funding will be essential to increase the technology maturity, preparing the system for safe and effective clinical use, designing a device and sustainable manufacturing process that reduce net waste and creates benefit for NHS and UK economy.