Shanghai, China, 23 April 2022 — Shanghai MicroPort MedBot (Group) Co., Ltd. (MicroPort® MedBot®) recently announced that its Honghu Orthopedic Surgical Robot (MicroPort® Honghu) developed by Suzhou MicroPort® OrthoBot Co., Ltd. (MicroPort® OrthoBot), a wholly-owned subsidiary of MicroPort® MedBot®, has received approval for marketing by China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA), making it the first approved orthopedic surgical robot equipped with a proprietary robot arm developed by a Chinese company. The approval of MicroPort® Honghu will further break the monopoly of imported products on the domestic orthopedic joint robot market, promote the rapid development of smart orthopedic surgery robots designed and developed in China, further realize precision medicine, and create conditions for the promotion of surgical robot technology in primary hospitals to benefit more patients.
Joint replacement surgery, particularly total knee replacement, is a difficult and sophisticated procedure. Orthopedic surgery robots, with their simple operation and flat learning curve, can digitally enhance the surgeon's "hand" (the robotic arm), "eyes" (navigation), and "brain" (intelligent planning), effectively addressing clinical pain points of traditional surgery, which relies heavily on the surgeon's experience and cannot guarantee standardized and repeatable operations. At the same time, the application of orthopedic surgery robots can contribute to the development of standardized diagnosis and treatment processes for orthopedic surgery, which will effectively close the gap between the shortage of high-quality medical resources for joint replacement surgery and the rising demand for surgical treatment in China, and break the monopoly of imported products. In doing so, more patients with orthopedic diseases will have access to more accurate, smarter and more inclusive joint replacement solutions.
Currently, MicroPort® MedBot® is the only surgical robot company in the world with businesses covering five promising subsectors of surgical robots, including endoscopy, orthopedics, vascular intervention, natural cavity, and percutaneous punctures. Its MicroPort® OrthoBot is one of the first professional teams in China to engage in robotic technology for orthopedic joint surgeries. The company was approved by the National Key Research and Development Project of China under the category of “Special Program of Digital Medical Device Research and Development” in 2017. MicroPort® OrthoBot has developed a solid system for medical-industrial collaboration based on clinical needs after years of independent research and development. It has overcome numerous challenges in multidisciplinary fields such as biomechanics, ergonomics, mechanical and electrical engineering, and computer science, and made significant advances in core technologies such as high dexterity and lightweight robotic arm development, intelligent planning and navigation algorithms, which have increased China's basic technology development capacity, bringing China's orthopedic surgery robot technology to an internationally competitive level.
In pre-market clinical trials, MicroPort® Honghu has demonstrated the technical advantages in terms of precision, synergy, safety and compatibility. Before the operation, the system’s planning system can help the surgeon develop a personalized plan for prosthetic implantation based on the patient's CT scan data and prosthetic model data. During the operation, it draws on the precise positioning developed in advance to quickly complete the osteotomy and improve the accuracy and efficiency of surgery through alignment technologies combined with the proprietary high dexterity, lightweight robotic arm. With MicroPort® Honghu, medullary cavity positioning and intramedullary rod implantation typically needed in traditional surgery can be avoided, thereby reducing surgical injury and bleeding, improving lower limb strength line postoperatively, reducing complications, and helping patients recover quickly.
MicroPort® MedBot® will continue to contribute to the popularization of high-quality medical resources after the launch of MicroPort® Honghu by providing clinical training and services. Currently, MicroPort® MedBot® has already established Robotic Surgery Centers in partnership with many hospitals to provide one-stop services that include technical training, customer service, and clinical support. MicroPort® Honghu can be used in conjunction with MicroPort® OrthoBot's homegrown 5G interoperability platform. It can promote the dissemination of training resources for robotic physicians in lower-tier cities using innovative training and demonstration methodologies such as mobile platforms to bridge geographical differences in healthcare. It also helps reduce the learning curve for primary care physicians and improve the homogeneity of surgical techniques. In doing so, it aims to benefit more patients while continuing to support hospitals at all levels to improve surgery efficiency and turnover rates.
Dr. Chao He, President of MicroPort® MedBot®, stated, “As the third approved flagship product of MicroPort® MedBot®, MicroPort® Honghu opens a new chapter of our strategic plan in the field of orthopedics. It will provide doctors with a precise, intelligent, friendly and convenient surgical experience and contribute to the promotion of surgical robotic technology at the grassroots level. In the future, MicroPort® MedBot® will continue to adhere to medical-industrial cooperation, gradually increase its coverage of clinical applications, promote synergy, accelerate incremental development of technology, industrialization and commercialization of high-end homegrown surgical robots, and provide intelligent total solutions for robotic surgery that prolong and reshape life.”
About MicroPort® MedBot®
By addressing the need for cutting-edge, minimally invasive surgeries, MicroPort® MedBot® (Stock code: 02252.HK) has been dedicated to driving research and industrial integration in the fields of robotics, intelligent control, sensing and information, to provide intelligent total surgical solutions that innovatively prolong and reshape life. Currently, MicroPort® MedBot® is the only surgical robot company in the world with businesses covering five promising subsectors of surgical robots, including endoscopy, orthopedics, vascular intervention, natural cavity, and percutaneous punctures.