Leading musculoskeletal solutions company Globus Medical have recently announced a decision to combine with leading spine technology innovation company NUVASIVE in an all-stock transition. This transaction will bring together two very highly regarded technology organisations within the musculoskeletal industry, and they share a vision which focuses on innovation to tackle a surfeit of un-met clinical needs, in order to improve patient care. Within the terms of the agreements which was approved unanimously by both boards of directors in both companies, the shareholders for NuVasive will receive 0.75 of the share of Class A common stock from Globus Medical for every share of Nuvasive common stock which is owned at the closing of the transaction. Worked out based on that exchange ratio, the implied share price would be $57.72 for Nuvasive, which is an equity value of $3.1Bn, based around Globus Medical’s closing share price on Feb 8th. Following the transaction’s close, it is estimated that NuVasive shareholders would own approximately 28% of the combined company, with Globus Medical shareholders owning roughly 72%, on a fully diluted basis. “This transaction reflects our mission to become the leading musculoskeletal technology company in the world by developing products that promote healing in patients with musculoskeletal disorders,” said Dan Scavilla, president and chief executive officer of Globus Medical. “With NuVasive, we can help support more patients through leading innovation and expanding our commercial reach to provide superior service to our surgeon and hospital partners. We look forward to combining the NuVasive and Globus Medical teams to capitalize on the many opportunities to improve patient care and create sustainable shareholder value.” “Our combination with Globus Medical is transformative, joining two companies with highly complementary capabilities, geographic footprints and customer bases,” said Chris Barry, chief executive officer of NuVasive. “Together, we will be able to offer an exceptional portfolio of clinically proven solutions, supported by strong commercial and surgeon education teams. The new company will be well-positioned to deliver value creation for shareholders, further support our surgeon partners—and most importantly, change the lives of more patients.”

The Johnson & Johnson medical tech company Ethicon recently announced the first patient to receive robot-assisted removal of kidney stones while using the MONARCH Platform for Urology. UCI Health, which is the clinical enterprise of the UCI (University Of California, Irvine), use the platform to complete the first robot-assisted EM (electromagnetic)-guided percutaneous access and PCNL (mini-percutaneous nephrolithotomy) procedure. The study includes a collaboration with a co-investigator, Dr Mihir Desai from USC (University of Southern California). “This clinical study is the first in the world to research and demonstrate the potential for improved navigation, access, clearance and control in mini-PCNL procedures using the MONARCH Platform for Urology,” said Dr. Jaime Landman, chair of the UCI School of Medicine Department of Urology and director of the UCI Health Kidney Stone & Kidney Disease Services. “In addition to potentially helping urologists achieve stone-free patients in a single procedure, this approach could help reduce the need for retreatment after kidney stone removal and decrease risks and complication rates.” The idea behind the MONARCH Platform is to create new treatment paradigms, which help to improve the lives of patients as the first robotic platform to be cleared for use in urology and bronchoscopy procedures. It allows urologists to navigate within the kidney using robotic assistance, which aids access and clearance using a handheld controller, providing urologists with a single platform to support ureteroscopic and PCNL (percutaneous nephrolithotomy) procedures. Using robotic assistance for the removal of kidney stones allows surgeons to maintain instrument positions to a precise degree, as well as allowing multiple tasks to be performed simultaneously. UCI Medical Center, which is part of UCI Health, has become the first hospital in the US to utilise the MONARCH Platform for Urology. It received 510(k) clearance in April 2022 from the FDA (US Food and Drug Administration). “The prevalence of kidney stones remains high, and many urologists seek a new treatment option that reduces overall retreatment and complication rates. In patients who require treatment through surgery, close to one in two will require retreatment within five years,” said Dr. Mihir Desai, USC. “After years of work, we are thrilled to be a part of this first clinical series which introduces a new treatment to improve outcomes for patients in need,” said Landman.

Medical device company Ronovo Surgical recently announced the successful shutting down of new financing, to increase its vision of cross speciality adopting of RAS (robot assisted surgery). The most recent round of financing equips Ronovo with over £50 million, which was raised since 2020. This round has encouraged continued support from its existing investors, namely Vivo Capital, GCV Capital, Matrix Partners China and Lilly Asia Ventures, and it has been led by LRI (LongRiver Investments). CEC Capital acted as the exclusive financial advisor. No longer acting under secrecy, Ronovo has unveiled its inaugural platform for robotics, called Carina. It is an innovative modular system, built with proprietary tech to enable configurative robotic assistance used for laparoscopic surgeries, spanning multiple specialities. This latest round of over-subscribed financing should increase the acceleration of Carina’s multidiscipline clinical trial, as well as strengthening R& D and the development of clinical applications. It should also bolster the company’s talent base further. Carina, developed in collaboration with highly reputable laparoscopic surgeons from China, addresses various pain points with MIS (minimally invasive surgeries), using a nimble, modular robotic solution. Surgeons are provided with the system’s flexibility to pick the best instruments for the job, and superlative anatomical access, based upon laparoscopy foundation. Using this method, surgeons are able to leverage, as opposed to abandon, previous laparoscopic training, as well as continuing to improve their surgical performance. This allows for minimally invasive surgery to be performed robotically within an increased number of specialities, such as gynaecology, urology, general, thoracic, and others Currently, these account for up to 10 million MIS patients each year in China, handled by 120,000 laparoscopic surgeons across 10,000 plus hospitals. “We are extremely grateful to our investors for their confidence in Ronovo’s strategy to democratize robotic surgery,” said Dr. John Ma, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Ronovo. “From inception, we have stayed true to our belief that innovation must start from an original pursuit to solve actual unmet clinical needs. Carina is designed with modular architecture to overcome the limited adoption of robotic MIS beyond urology,” said Dr. Ying Mao, Co-Founder and CTO of Ronovo. “Thanks to the ingenuity and expertise of our talented team, we have achieved breakthrough in our core robotic technology for the Carina platform.” “We are proud to have led this round of financing in Ronovo and its innovative modular robotic platform, which will be first-to-market in China,” commented Jiang Zhang, Founder and CEO of LRI. “We are incredibly excited to partner with Ronovo to accelerate their product and clinical development, and we strongly believe in the clinical and commercial value of a modular robotic system as well as its viability for international adoption.”

A partnership has been announced between medical device companies Siemens Healthineers India and Terumo, with the aim of improving cardiac care within India, through collaborated interventions within development and physician training, improved access to complex medical technologies, and also increased availability in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. The first result of this collaboration will be in the form of a customised training program available to Cathlab professionals, which has been developed as a partnership with a leading academic Indian institution. There is, at present, a need for more structure in courses designed to enhance patient experience and operational efficiency in Cathlabs. This first of its kind Cathlab Director program aims to fulfil this need while helping to raise the overall standard of Cathlab efficiency and care. This program includes topics such as Digital Transformation, Operations Excellence, and Patient Centricity. “We are committed to advancing our mission of Contributing to Society Through Healthcare. Over the last four years, Terumo India has been delivering several programs to HCPs on diverse topics pertaining to Intervention Cardiology. We are delighted to partner with Siemens Healthineers towards strengthening the medical and clinical skills of Cathlab operators in India by providing high-end training on leadership, operational, strategic and technical skills. Through this collaboration, we want to make better heart care accessible to more people thus contributing to the changing landscape of a healthier India,” says Shishir Agarwal, MD of Terumo India. “In our journey to pioneer breakthroughs in healthcare, for everyone, everywhere, it’s imperative to create platforms for collaborative growth. Through this industry-academia alliance, we aim to create holistic growth opportunities for specialized healthcare professionals. We are glad to be a partner with a globally trusted interventional medicine partner like Terumo, and one of the reputed academic institutes in India to co-create an ecosystem to transform care delivery in India.” says Vivek Kanade, Managing Director, Siemens Healthcare Private Limited. Further initiatives which were planned as part of this collaboration contain training programs for interventional cardiologists in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, as well as joint go-to-market initiatives. Leveraging the strengths of each respective company, hands on training programs will take place at the Skill Lab at Terumo India using cutting edge medical tech, such as the robotics used by Siemens Healthineers. Future collaboration will extend to training initiatives and programs for intervention radiologists.