Think Surgical Inc. has just received a $100 million investment from a new investor, South Korea’s KDB Investment Global Healthcare, a private equity firm that is wholly owned by Korea Development Bank. The Fremont, Calif.-based orthopedic surgical robotic company will use the funds to bring new products to market. Stuart Simpson, president and CEO of Think Surgical, confirmed that it will go towards supporting “successful new product commercialization.”
Think Surgical Inc. is deepening ties with South Korean company Curexo Inc. through a new development and distribution deal. Under the terms of the agreement, Think will have exclusive rights to distribute Curexo’s Cuvis-Joint robotic platform, including any additional technology, in the U.S. and other countries. The orthopedic robot is currently used by surgeons in Korea and India for pre-planning surgery.
Robocath SAS said Cathbot, its joint venture set up in 2020, has enrolled the final patient for its clinical study in China to evaluate the safety and the efficacy of its robotic platform for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). “The completion of our PCI robotic multicenter trial in China is a crucial milestone in our development in this part of the world,” Philippe Bencteux, president and founder of Robocath, told BioWorld.
Forsight Robotics Ltd. amassed up to $55 million in series A financing led by Adani Group, with participation by existing investors Eclipse Ventures and Mithril Capital. The new funds will be used to further development of Forsight’s Oryom system, a surgical platform for fully robotic cataract surgery.
Ganymed Robotics SAS raised a €21 million (US$21.2 million) series B round to develop its robotic system for total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Health care fund Cathay Health led the round, with participation from Credit Mutuel Innovation, Kurma Partners, BNP Paribas Developpement, and individual surgeons. The funds will be used to finalize development of Ganymed’s TKA surgical assistant and support the company’s expansion in France and the U.S.
Lung cancer claims more lives each year than any other cancer, making early and accurate diagnosis crucial to improving survival rates. To that end, the U.S. FDA has cleared the integration of Intuitive Surgical Inc.’s Ion endoluminal system and Siemens Healthineers AG’s Cios Spin mobile imaging cone-beam CT imaging technology to enhance robotic lung biopsies.
Shanghai Microport Medbot (Group) Co. Ltd. plans to list on the Shanghai Stock Exchange on the Sci-Tech Board to raise ¥2.8 billion (US$420 million) to progress its surgical robots. The funds raised from the IPO would go toward research and development of the surgical robots, manufacturing, marketing and academic promotion, as well as replenishing working capital. The company also plans shareholder dividend distribution plans within three years following the IPO listing.
Ethicon Endosurgery Inc. and Intuitive Surgical Inc. have been sparring in the courts over patents for robot surgery systems for some time, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has ruled on yet another of those disputes.
The NMPA approved two different surgical robots for marketing, a step forward in growth of a sector that remains underdeveloped in China. One of the robots approved for marketing by the NMPA is from Yuanhua Orthopedic Robotic Ltd. and the other is Suzhou Microport Orthobot Co. Ltd. Both robots are used for total knee arthroplasty (TKA), removing damaged cartilage and bones from the surface of the knee joint and replacing them with artificial implants.
Ethicon Endosurgery Inc. has had its hands full protecting a patent for robotic surgical systems, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal recently delivered some good news. The Federal Circuit affirmed the results of an inter partes review (IPR) of three claims for an endocutter patent, leaving Ethicon with another win in its efforts to sustain a critical patent for the robotic surgical space, and major player Intuitive Surgical Inc. coming out on the short end of the argument.
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