Minneapolis-based Medtronic is developing a robotic surgical system which the leading device company anticipates will make a significant contribution to the company's overall revenue in fiscal 2019, according to Reuters.
Here are seven key points:
1. Medtronic plans to launch the robot before 2019, and will have the first systems roll out in India.
2. Bryan Handon, Medtronic's head of the minimally invasive therapies group, said the robot will bring in "material revenue."
3. Intuitive Surgical's da Vinci system will likely be a competitor of Medtronic's robot. The da Vinci system is the sole abdominal surgery robot currently available on the market.
4. Verb Surgical, a startup supported by Johnson & Johnson, may likely be a competitor for Medtronic's robot. Alpahbet's Google is also in the development phase of a surgical robot.
5. Medtronic has 150 employees working on the company robotic system in locations including Massachusetts, Connecticut, Colorado and Germany.
6. Medtronic has also unveiled plans to launch its first hip and knee replacement device implants. Through its Responsive Orthopedics acquisition, Medtronic projects it will have a knee implant available in the beginning half of 2017. The company plans to have a hip implant available in 2018.
7. To lower hospital readmissions through better patient monitoring, Medtronic is providing insight to CMS on a potential cardiovascular surgery bundled payment plan.
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