[Nfbf-l] Tech and Biotech, Wicab can start selling its BrainPort V100 in Canada.

[Alan Dicey]

Tech and Biotech
State Journal business reporter <mailto:jdnewman at madison.com>Judy Newman 
follows news and trends about the technology and biotechnology sectors in 
the Madison area.
Middleton medical device company http://www.wicab.com/
Wicab can start selling its BrainPort V100 in Canada.

The BrainPort V100 is a non-surgical device that helps blind people "see," 
letting them recognize the shape and size of nearby objects by translating 
signals on their tongue.

A video camera mounted on a pair of sunglasses sends messages to an 
electrode plate that sits on the user's tongue. Black, white and gray images 
convey different signals, creating what users describe as "pictures that are 
painted on the tongue with tiny bubbles," according to Wicab.

Canadian approval is "an important sign of progress" and sales there can 
start immediately, said Wicab chief executive Robert Beckman. The Canadian 
National Institute for the Blind has agreed to train potential customers, 
and a commercial distributor in Toronto is on board, he said.

That's a lot different from the situation in Europe, where the BrainPort 
V100 was approved for sale in March but wheels are moving more slowly.

Wicab targeted four countries: Germany, Sweden, Italy and the United 
Kingdom. A demonstration project with 10 people is underway in Germany; 
distributors have been found in Sweden and Italy, but Italian officials 
still need to give their OK; and a U.K. distributor is still being sought, 
Beckman said.

In the U.S., Wicab submitted an application with the Food and Drug 
Administration earlier this year and Beckman said he hopes to get a decision 
in early 2014.

Meanwhile, Wicab has received a $1.5 million, two-year grant from the U.S. 
Army to study the use of the BrainPort V100 in people who have been blinded 
as a result of a traumatic injury.

The company, founded in 1998 based on the research of the late UW-Madison 
professor Paul Bach-y-Rita, has 10 full-time and part-time employees.


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