daVinci Surgical Robot About To Get Competition

By Christine Kern, contributing writer

Medical robotics market is heating up as Medtronic and others enter the competition.

The da Vinci Intuitive Surgical system has been performing successful robotic abdominal surgeries for several years now, without competition. Now, however, it looks like that medical robotics market is heating up as Medtronic announced it  is developing a surgical robot expected to launch in 2019, and others enter the race as well.

Bryan Hanson, who heads the Medtronic's minimally invasive therapies group, told Reuters the launch of the new robot should generate “material revenue” by 2019. The announcement follows the company’s investment of $56 million in Mazor Robotics, an Israeli maker of robotic guidance systems used in spinal surgeries, in May.

Among other da Vinci challengers are Johnson & Johnson startup Verb Surgical and Alphabet's Google, which is also developing a robot.

In robotically assisted procedures, a surgeon used a computer console to guide the robot’s mechanical arms. The process means smaller incisions than traditional open surgery and has been used with increasing frequency for prostate removal and hysterectomies, according to Reuters.

While many laud the use of robotics as safer and more effective alternatives to laparoscopic or traditional procedures, one 2015 study examined 14 years of FDA data and revealed that surgical robot use is linked to at least 144 deaths and more than 1,000 injuries in the U.S. from a total of 1.7 million robotic procedures performed between 2000 and 2013. Events ranged from burnt tissue from electrical sparks to system errors making surgery take much longer than planned.

Study authors concluded new safety measures need to be developed and implemented to ensure patient safety. “Adoption of advanced techniques in design and operation of robotic surgical systems may reduce these preventable incidents in the future,” the study stated. 

Robotic surgery costs an average of $3,500 more than a laparoscopic procedure and the da Vinci system costs about $2 million, according to Healthline. Medtronic is aiming to lower the costs associated with robotic surgery, with Hanson explaining, “It is costly today. We are going to be looking to eliminate that as a barrier.”