Record quarter for CMR Surgical as installations of Versius robot soar around the world

CMR Surgical has reported its strongest quarter on record and revealed that the number of procedures performed with its Versius robot grew by more than 60 per cent in the last year.

There have now been more than 17,000 operations carried out with the innovative robotic system and as the expansion into new markets in Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa and Latin America has continued, the number of installations of Versius has risen 50 per cent since 2022.

CMR Surgical, which is headquartered at Evolution Business Park in Impington and has technology and operations office in Ely, also announced that it expects to launch new products in 2024, including advanced technologies with enhancements in vision technology, instrumentation and digital products.

Supratim Bose, CEO of CMR Surgical, who replaced Per Vegard Nerseth in the role last year, said: “As we enter our fifth year since the launch of Versius, this is a tremendously exciting time for CMR and our customers as we see the momentum for Versius, and robotic assisted surgery grow exponentially.

“Versius is a truly differentiated product that is helping more hospitals around the world offer robotic assisted surgery. Additionally, the launch of new advanced technologies for Versius – across both hardware and software – will be a gamechanger this year.

“We are already seeing Versius prove its use in complex surgeries, and with new products on the market, we look forward to working with our customers to expand the procedures that are performed using Versius, and welcome new hospitals in existing and new geographies, so that more patients can benefit from robotic assisted surgery.”

2023 was not a year without its difficulties for the robotic surgery unicorn, as it announced a wave of redundancies in the spring. Sources suggested about 350 people - a third of the workforce - were laid off. The company did not confirm the figures but said it had made the decision to put “resources and decision-making in the regions where we sell Versius”.

There was better news, however, with the adoption of Versius at Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge, which became the first UK hospital to use it for thoracic surgery.

CMR Surgical says an increasing number of complex surgeries are being undertaken with Versius, which is a small, modular, and digitally native system designed to be simple to adopt while offering surgeons the versatility to place their surgical ports to best suit the needs of the patient.

The small size means hospitals have been able to move Versius easily between departments as it fits into virtually any operating room, without the cost of modifications to infrastructure.

These features have enabled the use of Versius for a range of benign and complex surgical procedures around the world, including low anterior resections, prostatectomies, lobectomies and hysterectomies.

Customers recently adopting the system include Norra Älvsborgs Hospital (NÄL) in Sweden, where Versius will be used for colorectal, upper GI and gynaecological surgeries, and Kreiskrankenhaus Rotenburg in Germany, where it is intended for use in general surgery. Meanwhile, Hospital Evangelico in Brazil and Clinique Urologique Nantes-Atlantis, a leading centre for urology in France, will be using Versius across general surgery, urology, gynaecology and thoracic surgery.

More than 100 surgeries have now been performed at the later, where Thierry Rousseau, president of the medical committee, said: “Our team are experienced in doing complex urological robotic assisted surgeries for many years and from the first 100 cases using Versius I can say that switching from the surgical robot we were previously using to a Versius robot proved very easy and more efficient in several respects.

“The versatility of Versius has enabled us to perform complex procedures such as prostatectomies with ease, enabling us to adapt the surgical robot into our existing surgical practice with simplicity.”

The first Versius systems to reach Greece and Indonesia have now been installed, and the continued acceleration of the system is to be led by CMR’s recently appointed global chief commercial officer, Massimiliano Colella.

Its new products, meanwhile, are expected to further increase the range of complex procedures for which Versius is used and aid its adoption in more new markets around the world.