Companies playing an important role in the robot-assisted surgery market

MedTech News: The market for surgical robots is expected to grow from USD 6.7 billion in 2020 to USD 11.8 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 12.1% during the forecast period. The growth is attributed to the increasing inclination towards minimally invasive surgical procedures, more flexibility, precision, and control.

Intuitive Surgical pioneered robotic surgery through the early 2000s and remains the dominant player. However, major companies including Medtronic and Johnson & Johnson have competitive plans for this market.

Intuitive Surgical continues to apply for expanded indications for its next-generation da Vinci SP robot.

Medtronic continues to work on the new Hugo system that is a rival to Intuitive Surgical’s da Vinci robots. 

Titan Medical entered into an agreement with Medtronic to progress the development of robot-assisted surgical technologies.

In the orthopaedics space, Medtronic is adding enhancements to its Mazor X spinal robotic system.

Johnson & Johnson is enhancing its general surgery robot to compete against Intuitive Surgical. The company’s goal is to start first-in-human studies with the system by the second half of 2022. J&J is combining technologies from the Verb Surgical collaboration with the Alphabet life sciences unit Verily as well as its $3.4 billion purchase of Auris Health.

During the second half of 2020, J&J is planning a U.S. regulatory submission for robotic knee surgery as part of its Velys digital surgery platform. The robotic surgery technology was born from J&J’s acquisition of Orthotaxy in 2018.

Stryker is perhaps the dominant player in the robotic ortho surgery space, with the company passing the 1,000 mark for Mako installations for knee and hip surgeries.

Stryker’s $500 million acquisition of Mobius Imaging and its Cardan Robotics subsidiary in 2019 may facilitate competition against Medtronic in the robotic spine surgery space.

Siemens Healthineers spent $1.1 billion in 2019 to acquire Corindus Vascular Robotics and its robot-assisted device for coronary and peripheral vascular procedures.

Corindus’ CorPath GRX vascular robotic system boasts robotic-assisted control of coronary guide catheters, guidewires and rapid exchange catheters with sub-millimeter measurement and 1 mm movement for proper stent positioning. The system has enabled Corindus to be a pioneer in telerobotic surgery.

Competition is enhanced in the robotic orthopaedic surgery space with Smith+Nephew announcing the launch of its next-generation Cori surgical system.

Available for both total and unicompartmental knee arthroplasty, the handheld Cori robotics platform is meant to be faster than Smith+Nephew’s previous Navio system. In addition to Cori, Smith+Nephew launched its suite of digital surgery solutions to improve patient engagement, pre-operative planning, digital and robotic surgery, post-operative assessment and outcomes measurement.

The new Cori system is small and portable, making it a good fit for ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) and outpatient surgery.

Zimmer Biomet is also seeking to compete against Stryker in the robot-assisted knee surgery space through its Rosa platform. The Rosa system includes 2D X-ray and 3D pre-operative planning tools, allowing surgeons to conduct virtual procedures ahead of the actual surgeries in addition to real-time intraoperative data on soft tissue and bone anatomy.

Zimmer Biomet acquired the initial Rosa technology through its $132 million acquisition of French robot-assisted surgery company Medtech in 2016. Zimmer Biomet also has a Rosa spine system and its Rosa One Brain system for neurosurgical procedures.