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A swallowable camera capsule beside a millimetre ruler

2001Medicine

The US lets Israel's Given Imaging sell a camera that people swallow.

The FDA grants permission in August 2001, a year after letting the company start clinical trials in the United States.

The story in numbers.

  • 2.5 cm

    length of the disposable capsule

    SourceIsrael21c

  • 8hours

    of video the capsule can send

    SourceIsrael21c

  • $60million

    raised on Nasdaq in October 2001

    SourceIsrael21c

Here is how it happened.

  • About 1993

    A missile engineer decides to put a camera in a pill.

    Gabriel Iddan of Rafael, who worked on the seeker that acts as a missile's eye, is on sabbatical in Boston. He wants a swallowable camera that sends images from the intestines in real time.

    SourceIsrael21c

  • About 1998

    Given Imaging is founded to produce the capsule.

    Dov Avni of Rafael invents a color camera a third the size of a dime, on a chip 4 mm square. A CMOS chip, a tiny transmitter and white light diodes make it all fit in one capsule.

    SourceIsrael21c

  • A woman in a hospital gown with a small recorder on a strap at her waist, while a doctor holds her hand

    August 2001

    The FDA lets Given Imaging start marketing the capsule.

    The company has already released it in Europe, Australia and Israel. The pills are expected to cost about $300 each.

    SourceIsrael21c

  • October 2001

    Given Imaging sells its shares on Nasdaq.

    It floats 5,000,000 shares at $12 and raises $60 million. The company has no revenue or profits yet, and accumulated losses of $19.5 million at 30 June.

    SourceIsrael21c

  • 28 November 2001

    The FDA publishes its rules for this kind of device.

    It describes the capsule system as an extra tool for seeing the lining of the small bowel and detecting abnormalities. Since 1 August 2001 the device type has been in Class II.

    SourceUS FDA

1 of 5

Here is why it matters.

The capsule films the small intestine from the inside, and no hospital stay is needed. It began with a missile-camera engineer who found the endoscope too invasive.

Three more milestones to read next.

  • Prof. Ruth Arnon of the Weizmann Institute, a co-developer of Copaxone, at her desk

    1996

    Weizmann Institute's multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone wins US approval.

    Read the story

  • 2006

    Technion-developed Azilect, a Parkinson's drug, wins US approval.

    Read the story

  • 2012

    Elelyso, a Gaucher disease treatment from Israel's Protalix, wins US approval.

    Read the story

Where each fact was read.

Sources read on 1 November 2026.