UCC licensed innovative device that moves organs during surgery to Skellig Surgical

1 Feb 2017

SecuRetract, Skellig Surgical’s first commercial product, has been licensed by UCC. Designed to manipulate organs that obscure and limit the ability to perform keyhole surgery, SecuRetract is UCC’s latest foray into medtech. Through a new licensing agreement, it is now on the market.

Skellig Surgical participated in GatewayUCC’s Sprint Programme. They are now residents of GatewayUCC and have 4 employees. The company is an Enterprise Ireland HPSU.

Developed through the work of dozens of surgeons over four years of research, the prize-winning device uses clever engineering to improve the surgical process. Inflated inside the 5mm surgical incision used in laparoscopic surgery, the device keeps the bowels from obstructing surgeons’ views.

“We are proud to have taken this early idea right through to the realisation of a product,” said Conor O’Shea, co-founder and CEO of Skellig Surgical. O’Shea, who worked with his PhD supervisor and fellow co-founder, Dr. Pádraig Cantillon-Murphy, to get the device developed, claims it improves patient safety. The clinical utility and design of SecuRetract has been recognised with multiple awards, including the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland David Boucher-Hayes Medal for Innovation in Surgery.