Johnson & Johnson is beefing up its presence in the robotic surgery arena with the acquisition by its unit Apsis of French robot-assisted surgery company Orthotaxy for an undisclosed price.
The company said the deal for Orthotaxy is part of its strategy to create a new robot-assisted platform for orthopedic surgeries beyond its current early stage technology focused on total and partial knee replacements.
“Our goal is to bring to market a robotic-assisted surgery technology that is an integral part of a comprehensive orthopedics platform,” Ciro Rӧmer, chairman of J&J’s DePuy Synthes orthopedics business, said in a statement. “The team at Orthotaxy has significant expertise and passion in developing this platform, and we aspire to bring to market a differentiated technology that helps improve clinical outcomes and increases patient satisfaction.”
Orthotaxy was founded by Stéphane Lavallée, a robotics entrepreneur.
J&J is also part of a robotics joint venture with Verb Surgical, which a little over a year ago unveiled its first digital surgery prototype to its partners. At the time of the announcement, Verb said the prototype met all of the companies' “technology pillars,” including robotics, visualization, advanced instrumentation, data analytics and connectivity.