One Robot, Three Ways In: Momentis Clears Multiport a Day After J&J Shrank the Footprint
- The FDA granted 510(k) clearance for the multiport configuration of Momentis Surgical’s Anovo system, making it the first robotic platform cleared for all three access approaches: natural orifice, single-port and multiport.
- Anovo uses internally articulated instruments modelled on a human shoulder, elbow and wrist. Moving the point of articulation inside the patient reduces external arm movement and the arm collisions that plague conventional rigid-instrument systems, while keeping 360-degree dexterity.
- The pitch to buyers is capital: hospitals and ambulatory surgery centres can offer multiple robotic approaches without buying multiple systems, on a compact platform with lower capital requirements.
- It follows the first FDA De Novo authorization for a robotic transvaginal system and clearance for single-site ventral hernia repair. The company reports surgeons moving most benign gynaecologic procedures to Anovo from legacy robotic systems.
CI read
Two robotic surgery clearances in 48 hours, and both make the same argument from different directions. Yesterday J&J shrank the footprint by building the arms into the operating table. Today Momentis removes the need to buy three systems by making one do three jobs. Neither is competing on whether a robot can perform the operation, that was settled years ago. Both are competing on whether a hospital can fit and fund one, which is the constraint that has held robotic penetration near 8 percent of procedures. The centre of gravity in this market has moved from capability to economics, and the ambulatory surgery centre is the prize, smaller budgets, smaller rooms, and almost no robotic installed base. Worth noting who chairs Momentis: Maurice Ferré, co-founder and former chief executive of MAKO Surgical, which Stryker bought for $1.65 billion. He has built and sold into exactly this transition before.
Read the original source (Momentis Surgical via PR Newswire) →