PARIS – Less than a year after its formation, Acusurgical SAS, has secured a $7 million series A round to develop its robotic platform for assisting surgeons performing microsurgery procedures in retinal surgery. “Our goal isn’t to replace the surgeon but to increase his surgical capacities. Our mission is to create an augmented surgeon,” Christoph Spuhler, CEO and co-founder of Montpellier, France-based Acusurgical, told BioWorld.

The U.S. FDA has given a green light to Brainlab AG for two new additions to its robotic surgery systems. The agency granted 510(k) clearances for the Loop-X mobile imaging robot and the Cirq Robotic Alignment module for spine procedures, paving the way for U.S. market entry.

PARIS – Ecential Robotics SAS has just secured $120 million series C funding in equity and debt financing, to support the manufacturing and commercial development of its robotic platform for spinal surgery. This is the largest financial transaction undertaken by any med-tech company in France.

Johnson & Johnson has been looking to make a big splash in robotics. Now, its Depuy Synthes unit has made progress on this front, gaining U.S. FDA clearance for the Velys robotic-assisted solution designed for use with the Attune total knee system. The solution aims to help simplify surgeons’ existing workflow around total knee replacement.

The medical device company Distalmotion SA has hit a regulatory milestone in the commercialization of its surgical robot, Dexter, earning a CE mark in Europe. The Dexter surgical robot is built with the aim of allowing surgeons to take a hybrid approach to minimally invasive surgery, using the robot for tasks such as suturing and complex dissections while switching to a laparoscopic approach for stapling and basic dissections.

PARIS – Ganymed Robotics SAS reported the successful completion of functional prototype testing for its surgical robotic assistant used in total knee arthroplasty. According to a systematic review of the literature, published in the Journal of Arthroplasty, more than 2 million patients undergo knee arthroplasty each year after suffering arthritis of the knee.

Johnson & Johnson (J&J) said it will deliver its differentiated value propositions for patients Thursday as it provided details on its Ottava platform during its Virtual Medical Devices Update. Analysts appear to have left the meeting with a good impression. “We came away impressed with JNJ's digital surgery vision & holistic approach,” wrote Cowen’s Josh Jennings.

Virtual Incision Corp. revealed that it had received a green light from the U.S. FDA to begin its study of its miniaturized in vivo robotic assistant (MIRA) Platform. Initially, the company will focus the platform on minimally invasive laparoscopic colon surgery. With the MIRA Platform, the company will aim to enter a growing market in the U.S., where more than 400,000 colon resection procedures are performed each year.

Neocis Inc., which developed the first U.S. FDA-cleared robotic-assisted dental surgery system, has completed a $72 million series D financing led by Dfj Growth. The funds will be used for broader commercialization and future advancements to the Yomi platform. Also participating in the series D round were Vivo Capital and existing investors Mithril Capital Management, Norwest Venture Partners, Section 32 and Fred Moll. With this latest capital infusion, Miami-based Neocis has raised a total of $120 million in financing to date.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a bump in the road for developers of digital surgical systems that include robotics, but the technology is still in demand. That was the message from industry leaders at the Advanced Medical Technology Association’s Virtual Medtech Conference.