Dive Brief:
- Medtronic said it will invest about $700 million in a partnership with Cornerstone Robotics that includes rights to distribute the Hong Kong-based company’s soft tissue surgical robot in China, Singapore and Europe.
- Cornerstone developed its Sentire robotic system in-house and won Europe’s CE mark in May for its use in general surgery and gynecologic, thoracic and urologic procedures. The robot is also approved in China and Singapore.
- Distributing Cornerstone’s Sentire robot alongside Medtronic’s Hugo system will expand access to robotic surgery and give surgeons and health systems more choice, Medtronic said. “It's a global play for us. It's one of a number of investments we're making in soft tissue,” Medtronic CEO Geoff Martha told investors on the company’s earnings call Tuesday.
Dive Insight:
The strategic partnership with Cornerstone comes less than a year after Medtronic received Food and Drug Administration clearance for its Hugo robot in urologic procedures, becoming the first big medtech company to challenge Intuitive’s da Vinci system in the U.S. with a competing soft tissue robot.
Johnson & Johnson followed in July with FDA authorization for the Ottava robotic surgery system.
Medtronic has also submitted 510(k) filings to expand use of Hugo to general surgery and gynecology and recently gained FDA clearance for an application that incorporates artificial intelligence to support decision-making during procedures with the robot.
Medtronic said Sentire will be a “strong complement” to Hugo in its robotic portfolio, “giving customers meaningful flexibility across clinical settings, procedural needs, and economic models.”
On the earnings call Tuesday, Martha dismissed an analyst’s question about whether the Cornerstone investment could be viewed as a lack of confidence in Hugo. “It’s just the opposite,” said Martha. “We’re very excited about the progress that we’re making in Hugo.”
The CEO called robotic surgery “one of the most compelling growth opportunities in healthcare,” with global penetration still in the “single digits” despite high demand. The figure in emerging markets is even smaller, at just 1%.
“There is a significant runway here, and we expect robust expansion for many years to come,” Martha told investors.
Hugo, which is available in 35 countries, is seeing procedure growth that is more than two times the rate of the robotic surgery market, Medtronic said. The company expects total global procedures with Hugo to top 50,000 by the end of its fiscal year, with 250 units installed.
