With the support of 5G and AI, how can domestic surgical robots seize the opportunity?

Where are the opportunities for rising stars?

Author: Dong Jingyi

Editor:Tao Li Lu Taoran

Source: Visual China

The surgical robot consists of a doctor's console, a bedside robotic arm system, and an imaging system. Simply put, it is equivalent to synchronizing the doctor's eyes and hands to the surgical robot to achieve "same-frequency resonance" and even remote precise operation. Therefore, robot-assisted surgery has become the development direction of future surgical operations.

"The robot can break through the limits of the human eye, and the surgical scene can be magnified more than 10 times. It can also break through the limits of the human hand. The robot completely imitates the movements of the human hand, but it is only 4 mm. When the human hand cannot move, It can also turn to more than 600 degrees." Recently, Liu Yu, executive vice president and chief commercial officer of Minimally Invasive Robot Group, said in an interview with a reporter from the 21st Century Business Herald, "Doctors use robots to perform surgeries, which is quite Yu swam into the patient's stomach."

Since its first installation in China in 2007, the "Da Vinci" surgical robot has been in a dominant position and its development is relatively early. It was not until October 2021 that the laparoscopic surgical robot developed and produced by Shandong Weigaoshou officially passed the review of the National Medical Products Administration and became the first approved laparoscopic surgical robot in China.

It is worth noting that during the more than ten years of Da Vinci’s monopoly, its price of up to 20 million yuan still limited the number of purchases, and most of the purchasers were large domestic tertiary hospitals. It was still difficult for ordinary patients to enjoy it. The convenience brought by surgical robots.

Although domestic surgical robots started late, they have developed rapidly in recent years. Data shows that the CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of the global surgical robot market from 2015 to 2020 was 22.6%, and the domestic CAGR during the same period was 35.7%, far exceeding the global market growth rate.

In the future, with the development of artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction technology and 5G communications, domestic surgical robots are expected to expand to more surgical specialties and achieve higher surgical accuracy, sensitivity and intelligent remote control.

Domestic opportunities to break monopoly

Surgical robots can provide greater flexibility, range of motion, tremor filtering, three-dimensional high-definition vision and control, and are helpful in deep and narrow surgical sites and small tissues that need to be incised, allowing surgeons to use minimally invasive methods. Repeatedly performing complex open surgeries shortens the learning period and makes surgical results more likely to replace open surgeries.

In this field, the American intuitive surgical company is the absolute ruler, leading the technology of robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery. Founded in 1995, Intuitive Surgery only focuses on the research of robotic surgical systems and has won the favor of many capitals. Since its listing on Nasdaq in 2000, it has monopolized the global laparoscopic surgical robot market for nearly 20 years with its da Vinci surgical robot. .

According to MarketsandMarkets statistics, the global surgical robot market size will be US$8.5 billion in 2022, of which intuitive surgery revenue will be US$6.222 billion, with a global market share of more than 73% based on revenue. The situation in our country is no exception. Data shows that my country's surgical robot field is highly concentrated in 2021, among which Da Vinci's endoscopic robot occupies about 93% of the market share.

In contrast, domestic surgical robots started late. “Domestic Da Vinci-like surgical robots can only perform more than 1,000 surgeries in total, but Da Vinci has 11 million surgeries, which is our 10,000 surgeries.” Times, this is the monopoly it has formed over the past 20 years. According to Liu Yu’s statement to a reporter from the 21st Century Business Herald, 11 million surgeries are enough to provide sufficient data support for da Vinci’s precise analysis and demonstration surgeries.

It is worth noting that among these 11 million operations, 400,000 operations came from China. “We entered the market 7 years later than foreign countries, but we still achieved a high contribution.” Liu Yu said.

It can be rewritten like this: The opportunity that China has can be clearly perceived, given that China has a large number of patients and many routine minimally invasive surgeries require the use of surgical robots. When domestically produced surgical robots are fully implemented, China is expected to rely on its high population base to enable equipment to have faster iteration speeds in a large number of surgical operations, thereby quickly bridging the gap with the international frontier.

Laparoscopic surgical robots are not the only ones currently being developed in China. According to incomplete statistics, in the field of surgical robots, a total of 15 products have obtained medical device registration certificates throughout 2022, including 3 endoscopic models, 10 orthopedic models, and 2 neurosurgery models. Domestic products are breaking the import monopoly.

Information released by the China Government Procurement Network shows that as of December 11, 2022, there were 89 surgical robot bidding announcements for hospitals at all levels across the country. During the same period, there were 55 winning bid announcements for surgical robots at all levels of hospitals across the country, involving Surgical robots, surgical robot accessories and consumables, surgical robot maintenance services, etc.

Liu Yu said that against the background of major price cuts for domestic stents, joints and other surgeries, the introduction of surgical robots has greatly reduced the difficulty of surgeries, and is expected to eventually be implemented in small and medium-sized hospitals and prefecture- and county-level hospitals, thereby covering the needs of a large number of patients.

How to achieve overtaking in corners?

In the years when Leonardo da Vinci has monopolized the market, how to compete with it? This is a problem that every domestically produced endoscopic surgical robot must face.

Duan Xingguang, a professor at the Institute of Intelligent Robotics at Beijing Institute of Technology, once told a reporter from the 21st Century Business Herald that the research and development process of domestic surgical robots requires product type inspection, several clinical trials, and completion of relevant Food and Drug Administration regulations. The application stage also involves doctors' operating habits, hospital purchasing policies, etc. Each path is relatively long, and the arduous process requires a large amount of money and time.

Liu Yu told the 21st Century Business Herald reporter that Minimally Invasive Robots established a project team in 2014 and the company was established in 2015. It was not until 2022 that we obtained the registration certificate. “It took us 8 years to obtain the registration certificate. Commercialization started this year. If we don’t iterate or evolve in the next five years, there will be no chance. Liu Yu said that last year, minimally invasive robots passed 5 standard tests, and currently 4 units have begun to be installed and used commercially.

In terms of competition with Da Vinci, Liu Yu said that in terms of cost, the price, consumables and services of domestic surgical robots will be reduced to a certain extent. "The price of Da Vinci exceeds 2,000 Ten thousand yuan, our products are more than 10 million yuan."

In addition to price, Liu Yu believes that close cooperation with schools and hospitals is also very important. It is reported that minimally invasive robots have established cooperation with nearly a hundred hospitals, and have deployed more than 30 Tumai and more than 15 Honghu clinical application and training centers across the country, and have carried out a number of clinical training and technical guidance activities for surgical robots. Training more Chinese surgeons will allow surgical robot technology to sink into more prefecture- and county-level hospitals.

As for surpassing Da Vinci, this is not completely impossible. Liu Yu believes that the rapid development of China’s 5G technology is expected to help domestic surgical robots form a leading advantage in telemedicine. The original intention of developing surgical robots was mainly to relieve doctors' pressure and also to support telemedicine. ”

Remote surgery is equipped with 5G technology, which has revolutionary significance for surgical methods and the development of the medical industry. It is equivalent to adding "clairvoyance" and "direct hands" to doctors. Data shows that as of the first quarter of 2023, more than 2.64 million 5G base stations have been built and opened nationwide, and all prefecture-level cities, county towns, and 97.7% of towns and villages have achieved 5G network coverage. Due to its advantages such as high transmission efficiency and low communication costs, telemedicine has overcome technical obstacles and ushered in new development opportunities.

In September 2021, the Honghu® orthopedic surgical robot successfully completed the first 5G remote joint replacement surgery of a domestic surgical robot. The team of Chief Physician Li Huiwu of the Orthopedics Department of the Ninth People's Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine performed three surgeries in Shanghai through the 5G platform Through the interoperability, remote assisted guided knee replacement surgeries were successfully performed for two patients in Kunming, Yunnan and Huizhou, Guangdong Province.

Precise, intelligent, and remote smart medical care has gradually revealed its future prospects. In January this year, 17 departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Health Commission and other departments jointly issued the "Robot Application Action Implementation Plan", clearly proposing to accelerate the application of new technologies and new products, including robot 5G remote surgery. The telemedicine scenario of surgical robots will usher in further breakthroughs.

Liu Yu said that in the next step, artificial intelligence technology will be more integrated into surgical robots, using artificial intelligence algorithms to achieve more precise and intelligent surgical operations, and even help doctors make decisions and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of operations. precision, reducing surgical risks and complications.

21Tech

Nancai Group Special Column

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