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Sanovas: Go Beyond. See Beyond.

Continuous progress in medical technology has allowed doctors to diagnose better, intervene early and save lives. Early intervention and treatment not only save lives but ultimately lower related health care costs. Medical interventions, the ability to access the body without surgery to diagnose and treat, have flourished in the past few decades. Now, however, opportunity and necessity have combined to redefine what is possible through interventions and to make what is possible accessible, affordable, and safe for more people.
Sanovas’ access, imaging, and measurement technologies enable physicians to safely perform advanced, multi-instrument and multi-modal diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in previously inaccessible anatomies. These procedures will make localized, interventional treatments for lung cancer and other serious diseases available to millions of people, globally – reducing the need for open surgeries and cancer treatments that create systemic toxicity and side effects. It is estimated that millions more healthcare providers across the globe will be able to offer their communities diagnostic and therapeutic interventions at a reasonable cost because of Sanovas’ platform of micro technologies that are both affordable and portable.
Sanovas, Inc. is a Life Science company that is developing the next generation of minimally invasive surgical tools and cancer treatment technologies. One spectacular example of the company’s innovation is their MicroCam™ Imaging Technology. These handheld ‘Plug-N-Play’ surgical cameras reduce the size of current cart based endoscopy systems by as much as 90% and reduce their costs of acquisition by up to 80% for hospitals and healthcare facilities around the world.
The company was incepted with a singular pursuit to innovate small diameter ‘Smart’ technologies that could deliver drugs and immune therapies to the periphery of the Lung to cure Lung Cancer. The course of their development forced Sanovas to overcome the many procedural risks and technological limitations required to navigate the small airways of the lungs. By successfully meeting those challenges the company has developed a portfolio of products and generated over 100 patents. These product lines are so small and so advanced that they have been found of use in advancing intervention in other areas of the body. Recognizing this opportunity, multiple subsidiary companies have been created by the company to address the unmet clinical needs in these other surgical sectors.
Larry Gerrans: A ‘Visionary’ Entrepreneur ‘Who Sees the Bigger Picture’
Larry Gerrans, President, and CEO of Sanovas, Inc., is the person behind the success of Sanovas. He is an innovator and a passionate leader whose inventions and pursuits, on behalf of the Life Sciences, have created meaningful and enduring contributions to humanity. For more than 20 years, Larry has played a leading role in the innovation and deployment of Minimally Invasive Surgical (MIS) Techniques, devices and implant systems for the burgeoning endoscopic markets in Cardio-Thoracic, General Surgery, Urological, Neuro-surgical, Gynecological, ENT, Orthopedic, Spine and Sports Medicine. Many of his pioneering contributions have become the ‘Gold Standard’ for diagnostic and therapeutic intervention across these Life Sciences.
Larry was on the ground floor of minimally invasive surgery in the early 1990’s. He has been a key figure in the surgical arts, driving the development and adoption of many of the minimally invasive procedures that are now considered the “Standard of Care” in everything from Spine Surgery and Sports Medicine to Gynecology and Heart surgery. He is now pioneering the discoveries required to advance intervention in the lungs, an anatomy considered to be the last frontier in surgical interventional. The lungs are the only organ in the body that cannot be turned off during surgery; requiring tools and technologies that can be successfully operated in a live, breathing, and moving anatomy.
Mr. Gerrans’ cutting edge Research and Development teams have been comprised of Scientists, Doctors, Engineers and business development specialists. Many of whom were among the first medical industry personnel to enter the National Laboratories to evaluate various state of the art technologies for transfer to private industry. They have created life-saving technologies that now serve to remedy millions of people worldwide who suffer from acute injury, severe illness and chronic disease. These innovations now positively affect the lives of over 100 million people and relate to more than $15 Billion in revenues, annually.
Larry leveraged his contributions in endoscopic imaging and communications technologies to incept telemedicine broadcasting and electronic surgical records. He conceived and led the commercialization efforts of the first voice-activation technology for surgical device control in the operating theater – the Hermes™ voice activation system. Larry conducted the Human Factor Analysis and IT integration that created the most technologically advanced operating rooms ever built, the Endoscopic Surgical Suite (Endo-Suite™) and the Digital Operating Room (Digital OR™). These contributions are credited with leading to what is now a multibillion-dollar healthcare facilities construction and IT marketplace.
Embracing Dreams and Leaving a Mark on the World
As the Founder, President and CEO of Sanovas, Larry has written over 100 patents and has been leading an elite group of innovators developing groundbreaking interventional technologies to treat the diseases of the Lung and to cure Lung Cancer. The Sanovas platform features highly sophisticated 3D imaging and physiologic intelligence systems that operate within new sensory-guided interventional technologies to provide the local delivery of drug and immune therapies to significantly improve cancer treatment.
A byproduct of Gerrans’ team’s success in advancing miniaturization has been the development of entirely new classes of Interventional Catheters, Surgical Cameras, Physiologic Measurement and Bio-Feedback Systems, In Vivo Diagnostics and In Vivo Drug Delivery Systems. These tools were developed to overcome the procedural risks and technological challenges of the pulmonary anatomy. Now, these ‘Core’ technologies have given rise to more than ten subsidiary companies. One, of which, promises to develop the next generation of surgical robots.
Larry is also the Founder and Chairman of Human Tissue Banks, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation that is providing allograft resources to the highly promising innovations being forged in bio-regenerative medicine, 3-D printing of organs, “Bio-Inks” and Stem Cell Engineering.
“What is best in our company are the patients we serve. Everything we do, we do for them. These patients are working the hardest. They are struggling to survive. Their families are suffering. They are making enormous sacrifices and enduring the toughest challenges. Many of our investors have died from Lung and other Cancers. We miss them. We have lost family and friends. We have employees and investors who are cancer survivors. Sanovas is and has been a sentimental journey on many levels. People are our inspiration. Our patients are our purpose,” says Larry.
Unique Strategies Assuring Success
As a business, Sanovas’ strategy is to innovate comprehensive surgical solutions that advance intervention beyond current limits and vertically integrate the selling channel. The company does this by creating integrated sets of tools that make up the entirety of the ‘Tool Belt’ required to perform the intervention in a target anatomy. This strategy follows a technology development tactic pioneered by Larry, known as A.I.M., which is an acronym that stands for Access, Image, and Measure.
The company first develops the tools and technologies required to Access the intended anatomy in the least invasive fashion. Next, they create the imaging solutions to see the anatomy and perform the surgery.
Having solved the Access and Imaging challenges, they develop instruments that allow the surgeon to measure and palpate the anatomy remotely, so as to gain a better understanding of its condition. Surgeons cannot touch and feel the anatomy with their fingers in minimally invasive procedures, as they can in open surgery. Once doctors can ‘Take A.I.M,’ Sanovas then develops the tools required to both Diagnose and Treat the target anatomy.
In building the systems that allow surgeons to take ‘A.I.M.’, Sanovas drives cash flow by providing surgeons the ubiquitous set of tools that become resident in every procedure. The company leverages this ongoing stream of cash flow to drive continued innovation, and growth through acquisition.
Sanovas Innovations ‘highly acclaimed and accepted by the industries’
Currently, the MicroCam Plug-N-Play Suite of surgical cameras is a big attraction. Sanovas has been able to reduce the footprint of an Endoscopic imaging system by as much as 90% and create a handheld device that sells for just 20% of current systems’ pricing. Moreover, given the advances they have made in miniaturization, they have discovered and capitalized on entirely new market segments. One of which is the SteriView Instrument Inspection and Infection Control System for detecting infectious bacteria in the tiny operating channels and crevices of medical instruments. These hard to reach places have become breeding grounds in which antibiotic-resistant bacteria and Superbugs germinate. Patient deaths due to Hospital Acquired Infections are growing at tragic rates. Sanovas has pioneered a first-to-market solution that is now saving lives.
TEAM – Together Everyone Achieves More
The DNA of their growing team is rooted in passion. Every day working at Sanovas is a good deed. Sanovas’ investors and employees are deeply committed. Each of them is on a personal mission to save lives and in some cases their very own! Sanovas’ technologies have vast potential to cure disease. The best part is that they are making an impact globally. Sanovas’ customers are getting state-of-the-art technology which is smaller, safer, more effective and less expensive than anything they have ever used.
Sanovas Global Perspectives
Most importantly, the company takes a global perspective in its development and commercialization strategies and works to serve the greater good by creating solutions that are affordable and portable. This model disrupts the economics in the current markets by reducing equipment size up to 90% and lowers acquisition costs by as much as 80%. These are design and economic considerations that are often overlooked in developed economies and healthcare, especially. It is an innovative approach to building a global company.
Expanding Geographical Footprints
Sanovas is growing strong and steady. Moreover, they have five Business Units that are in various states of growth and development.
“Thanks to advances in communications and information technology, the addressable patient population for advanced medical technologies has exploded from a 750 Million patient population to over 3.1 Billion patients and is growing to more than 4.9 Billion patients by 2030. Sanovas’ strategy is to capitalize on our “affordable and portable” mantra to disrupt the economics in the current markets and to accelerate our commercial success ahead of the competition into the emerging markets,” assures Larry.