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Recently, Intuitive, a leading global surgical robot company, announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Krishna Medical University Hospital (KIMS), a large medical group in India, to establish 25 robotic surgery projects featuring da Vinci robot-assisted surgical systems in second- and third-tier cities in India.
According to the agreement, all 25 projects will be equipped with the da Vinci robotic-assisted surgical system. In support of this initiative, KIMS will set up a "Centre of Excellence for Robotic Surgery" at KIMS-PES Hospital in Bangalore to provide comprehensive robotic surgery training to medical staff across the country, covering multiple medical fields.
It is understood that the cooperation project will cover second- and third-tier cities such as Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. It aims to promote the application of robotic surgery in India, especially in areas with scarce medical resources.
As of June 30, 2024, the total global installation of da Vinci surgical robots has reached 9,203 units. The installed capacity in China has exceeded 380 units; More than 170 units were installed in India.
After the completion of this cooperation, the total installed capacity in India will reach nearly 200 units. According to the domestic purchase price of 20 million yuan per unit, Da Vinci is equivalent to signing a sales order of 500 million yuan with India.
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The global center "settled" in India
This is also the first order received by Intuitive Surgery after the establishment of a Global Competence Center in India.
Intuitive Surgery reportedly announced on September 27 that it would open its start-up Global Competence Center in Bangalore, India. Located on the Embassy Golf Links campus, the center covers key functions such as IT support, enterprise analytics, software quality, human resource management system (HRMS) and post-market monitoring.
The company plans to create more than 250 full-time positions at the center, covering a wide range of functions throughout the product lifecycle, including product upgrades, quality improvement, and customer service. In the future, it will become an important hub for Intuitive Surgical's global operations.
It is reported that up to now, more than 850 India surgeons have been trained in the da Vinci surgical system, and more than 100,000 surgeries have been completed. More than 14 million da Vinci surgeries have been performed worldwide, and more than 38,000 scientific publications have cited intuitive surgical techniques, highlighting the benefits of the da Vinci system in terms of safety, efficacy, and faster patient recovery.
According to Intuitive Surgery, Bangalore is known for its dynamic technological innovation and abundant human resources. The center will help the company further promote minimally invasive medical technology and related services, and ensure its successful application and popularization worldwide. This partnership with KIMS is one of the key strategies to achieve this goal.
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Leonardo da Vinci's localized layout
It is worth mentioning that in China, Intuitive Surgery has a clear strategic goal.
Intuitive Fosun was established
In May 2017, Intuitive Fosun Medical Device Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. was jointly established with Fosun Pharma, which mainly develops, produces and sells innovative products based on robot-assisted catheter technology for the early diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer.
Leonardo da Vinci Innovation Center
On December 22, 2020, the construction of the Da Vinci Innovation Center of Intuitive Fosun officially started, with a total investment of more than 100 million yuan. In October 2021, the 1,700-square-meter Intuitive Fosun Da Vinci Innovation Center was launched in Zhangjiang.
Da Vinci Robot Manufacturing · R&D Center was established
At the same time, Intuitive Fosun signed a contract with Zhangjiang Group to set up a da Vinci surgical robot manufacturing and R&D base in Zhangjiang Robot Valley. In July 2022, the R&D center of the medical robot manufacturing · project of Intuitive Fosun headquarters and industrialization base project officially started, which is the second manufacturing and R&D base of the Da Vinci surgical robot in the world after United States Silicon Valley, with an investment of 700 million yuan in the first phase and an estimated output value of nearly 6 billion yuan after completion.
As another major strategic layout after the Da Vinci Innovation Center, it means that Intuitive Fosun will integrate multiple locations into a large campus including manufacturing and innovation centers, and it is also a major milestone for Intuitive Fosun to deeply cultivate China and realize the "Made in China, Joint R&D, and Global Sales" of Da Vinci and other series of robots.
A number of products are localized
In June 2023, the "Thoracic and Abdominal Endoscopic Surgery Control System" declared by Intuitive Fosun was approved, with the registration certificate number "National Machinery Injection 20233010800", which was officially launched in November last year, becoming the first domestic version of the da Vinci robot. On December 1, 2023, the Chinese government procurement website announced that the domestic da Vinci won the bid with an amount of 19.78 million yuan.
In addition, according to Document No. 1 of 2024 issued by the Device Review Center of the State Food and Drug Administration, Intuitive Medical's "Endoscopic Single-Port Surgical System" has been approved to enter the "Special Review Procedure for Innovative Medical Devices", that is, the "green channel" for the approval of medical devices by the State Food and Drug Administration, which will further accelerate the approval of the da Vinci single-port robot in China.
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India medical device market
As the largest country in the South Asian subcontinent, India is second only to China in terms of population. In recent years, with the rapid development of India's national economy, people's medical demand has surged, which also makes India's medical device market contain huge business opportunities.
According to Invest India, India's national investment promotion and promotion agency, the India medical device market has exceeded $11 billion in 2020. The India government released its National Medical Device Policy in April 2023 with the goal of growing the industry to $50 billion in the next five years.
However, unlike the perennial booming pharmaceutical industry in the local area, there is still a huge gap between the demand and supply of medical devices in India, and the import degree has reached 75%. This has led to many capital giants and medical equipment giants beginning to continue to deploy in the India market, and international medical equipment giants such as GE Healthcare, Medtronic, Philips, Stryker, and Omron have also settled here.
GE Healthcare
In March 2022, GE Healthcare India announced that it was preparing to invest 1 billion rupees (US$12.8 million) in a new manufacturing facility in Bangalore, India. The 35,000-square-foot facility has 24/7 operations and is used to manufacture CT machines, cathlab equipment, ultrasound scanners, patient monitoring solutions, ECG machines, and ventilators. It is equipped with automated testers to evaluate the performance of medical devices. The plant currently employs 35 people on its workshop and expects to increase to 100 in the next 2 to 3 years.
Philips
Philips has been operating factories in India for a long time, and in 2008, Philips began its industrial and commercial expansion in India through the acquisition of India's Alpha X-ray Technologies and Meditronics as part of its imaging business. In line with its strategy to expand the company in India, Philips Medical began operations with its first imaging system manufacturing plant in the country. Located in Chakan, near Pune, 200 km east of Mumbai, the Philips development and manufacturing center focuses on diagnostic and interventional imaging solutions, initially developed for the India market and then for the global market.
In May 2022, Philips India also successively announced the acquisition of 10 acres of land to further invest in India, that is, to establish a new research and development (R&D) center to expand Pune's innovation capacity and further invest in India.
Medtronic
In May 2023, Medtronic announced plans to invest 30 billion rupees (about 350 million US dollars, equivalent to about 2.486 billion yuan) to expand its engineering and innovation center (MEIC) in Hyderabad, in Telangana, south-central India.
In March, Medtronic expanded the Hyderabad MEIC range. It aims to strengthen its global R&D capabilities while nurturing local innovation in India's fast-growing healthcare technology sector. The newly expanded MEIC is now Medtronic's largest R&D center outside the United States, covering more than 250,000 square feet. It has state-of-the-art laboratories focused on digital therapeutics and innovation, connected care, platforms and technologies, and more.
The center currently employs more than 900 engineers and is expected to increase the number of employees to 1,500, making a significant contribution to Medtronic's global product development initiatives.
Omron
In June 2023, Omron announced that it would invest 1.28 billion Indian rupees (about 113 million yuan) in Tamil Nadu, southern India, to build its first medical equipment factory in the region. Located at the Mahindra Industrial Park in Chennai, Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu, the plant is planned to occupy 6.02 acres and is expected to operate in March 2025 and is focused on supplying blood pressure monitors to the domestic market in India. With the new plant, Omron aims to achieve sales of about 5 million units in the India market by 2030.
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According to the 2023 financial report, Intuitive Surgery achieved annual revenue of US$7.12 billion, a year-on-year increase of 14%, and a net profit of US$1.82 billion, a year-on-year increase of 35%; Among them, the revenue of special consumables was 4.28 billion US dollars, accounting for more than 60% of its total revenue.
As far as the current India market is concerned, whether it is instrument sales or consumables, there is a very broad growth space for da Vinci, and it will also add a strong touch to its growth story in the future. In this regard, the home of equipment will continue to pay attention.