Company type | Public |
---|---|
| |
Industry | Medical Appliances & Equipment |
Founded | 1995 |
Headquarters | Sunnyvale, California, U.S. |
Key people |
|
Products | da Vinci Surgical System |
Revenue | US$7.12 billion (2023) |
US$1.77 billion (2023) | |
US$1.82 billion (2023) | |
Total assets | US$15.4 billion (2023) |
Total equity | US$13.4 billion (2023) |
Number of employees | 13,676 (2023) |
Website | intuitive |
Footnotes /references [1] |
Intuitive Surgical, Inc. is an American biotechnology company that develops, manufactures, and markets robotic products designed to improve clinical outcomes of patients through minimally invasive surgery, most notably with the da Vinci Surgical System. The company is part of the Nasdaq-100 and S&P 500. As of 31 December 2021 [update] , Intuitive Surgical had an installed base of 6,730 da Vinci Surgical Systems, including 4,139 in the U.S., 1,199 in Europe, 1,050 in Asia, and 342 in the rest of the world. [2]
Intuitive Surgical made its debut on the Fortune 500 list in 2024, ranking #497. [3]
The research that eventually led to the development of the da Vinci Surgical System was performed in the late 1980s at a non-profit research institute SRI International. [4] In 1990, SRI received funding from the National Institutes of Health. SRI developed a prototype robotic surgical system that caught the interest of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which was interested in the system for its potential to allow surgeons to operate remotely on soldiers wounded on the battlefield.
In 1994, Dr. Frederic Moll became interested in the SRI System, as the device was known at the time. At the time, Moll was employed by Guidant. He tried to interest Guidant in backing it but to no avail. In 1995 Moll was introduced to John Freund who had recently left Acuson Corporation. Freund negotiated an option to acquire SRI's intellectual property and incorporated a new company that he named Intuitive Surgical Devices, Inc.
At that point Freund, Moll, and Robert Younge (also from Acuson) wrote the business plan for the company and raised its initial venture capital. Early investors included the Mayfield Fund, Sierra Ventures, and Morgan Stanley.[ citation needed ]
The company refined the SRI System into a prototype known originally as "Lenny" (after the young Leonardo da Vinci), which was ready for testing in 1997. As the company's prototypes became more advanced, they were named using da Vinci themes. One was named "Leonardo", and another was "Mona". The final version of the prototype was nicknamed the da Vinci Surgical System, and the name stuck when the system was eventually commercialized. After further testing, Intuitive Surgical began marketing this system in Europe in 1999, while awaiting FDA approval in the United States.[ citation needed ] [5]
The company raised $46 million in an initial public offering in 2000. That same year, the FDA approved use of the da Vinci Surgical System for general laparoscopic surgery, which can be used to address gallbladder disease and gastroesophageal disease. In 2001, the FDA approved use of the system for prostate surgery. The FDA has subsequently approved the system for thoracoscopic surgery, cardiac procedures performed with adjunctive incisions, and gynecologic procedures. [6]
Shortly before going public, Intuitive Surgical was sued for patent infringement by Computer Motion, Inc, its chief rival. Computer Motion had actually gotten into the robotic surgery field earlier than Intuitive Surgical, with its own system, the ZEUS Robotic Surgical System. Although the ZEUS system was approved in Europe, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had not yet approved it for any procedure at the time that the FDA first approved the da Vinci system. The uncertainty created by the litigation between the companies was a drag on each company's growth. In 2003, Intuitive Surgical and Computer Motion agreed to merge, thus ending the litigation between them. [7] The ZEUS system was ultimately phased out in favor of the da Vinci system. Computer Motion was led by Chairman Robert Duggan from 1990 until 2003, when the two companies merged. [8]
Before the buyout of Computer Motion, the stock of Intuitive was selling at around $14 per share, adjusted for stock splits. After the merger, the stock price rose significantly (and by 2015 it was at about $500), [9] primarily because of the growth in systems sold (60 in 2002 compared with 431 in 2014) and the number of surgical procedures performed (less than 1,000 in 2002 compared with 540,000 in 2014).[ citation needed ]
For the fiscal year 2017, Intuitive Surgical reported earnings of US$660 million, with an annual revenue of US$3.129 billion, an increase of 15.7% over the previous fiscal cycle. Intuitive Surgical's shares traded at over $307 per share, and its market capitalization was valued at over US$58 billion in November 2018. [10]
Year | Revenue in mil. US$ | Net income in mil. US$ | Total assets in mil. US$ | Price per share in US$ | Employees |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2005 | 227 | 94 | 502 | 21.24 | |
2006 | 373 | 72 | 672 | 35.65 | |
2007 | 601 | 145 | 1,040 | 61.82 | |
2008 | 875 | 204 | 1,475 | 85.48 | |
2009 | 1,052 | 233 | 1,810 | 61.58 | |
2010 | 1,413 | 382 | 2,390 | 104.33 | |
2011 | 1,757 | 495 | 3,063 | 122.21 | |
2012 | 2,179 | 657 | 4,059 | 172.93 | |
2013 | 2,265 | 671 | 3,950 | 149.97 | 2,792 |
2014 | 2,132 | 419 | 3,959 | 147.55 | 2,978 |
2015 | 2,384 | 589 | 4,907 | 169.00 | 3,211 |
2016 | 2,704 | 736 | 6,487 | 212.10 | 3,755 |
2017 | 3,129 | 660 | 5,758 | 307.18 | 4,444 |
2018 [11] | 3,724 | 1,125 | 7,847 | 5,527 | |
2019 [12] | 4,479 | 1,379 | 9,733 | 7,326 |
Manufacturer | Intuitive Surgical |
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Type | Robotic surgery |
The da Vinci Surgical System is a robotic surgical system. The system is controlled by a surgeon from a console. This minimally invasive surgical approach is commonly used for prostatectomies and increasingly for cardiac valve repair and gynaecologic surgical procedures. [13] [14]
A da Vinci Surgical System costs approximately $1.5 million. [15] The da Vinci SI released in April 2009 cost about $1.75 million. In addition, there are maintenance contracts plus expenditures for instruments used during surgery. In 2008, The New York Times reported that most hospitals and clinics have a hard time recovering the cost of the robot. [14]
This section needs expansionwith: This sentence is too vague (what is 'it'?). You can help by adding to it. (September 2021) |
In June 2018, Intuitive Surgical settled class action lawsuits against it for a payment of $43 million. [16] [17]
In 2021, Intuitive was sued for alleged abuse of its monopolist position. Specifically, replacement part manufacturer Rebotix Repair accused Intuitive of anticompetitive behavior in the robots' aftermarket business and overcharging of hospitals for replacement parts.[ citation needed ] The initiative was followed up by a wave of similar class-action lawsuits shortly afterwards, including those filed by Kaleida Health and Franciscan Health. [18] [19] In August of 2022, Rebotix v. Intuitive settled out of court shortly before trial was set to begin. [20] [21]
Sultzer v. Intuitive Surgical, Inc. involved a claim against Intuitive that a defect in its da Vinci surgical robot allowed electricity to arc through a patient's spine, resulting in her death. [22] Intuitive was represented by Bradley Arant Boult Cummings. [22] On July 12, 2024, the plaintiff agreed to drop the case. [22]
Leonardo's robot, or Leonardo's mechanical knight, is a humanoid automaton designed and possibly constructed by Leonardo da Vinci in the late 15th century.
Remote surgery is the ability for a doctor to perform surgery on a patient even though they are not physically in the same location. It is a form of telepresence. A robot surgical system generally consists of one or more arms, a master controller (console), and a sensory system giving feedback to the user. Remote surgery combines elements of robotics, telecommunications such as high-speed data connections and elements of management information systems. While the field of robotic surgery is fairly well established, most of these robots are controlled by surgeons at the location of the surgery. Remote surgery is remote work for surgeons, where the physical distance between the surgeon and the patient is less relevant. It promises to allow the expertise of specialized surgeons to be available to patients worldwide, without the need for patients to travel beyond their local hospital.
Medtronic plc is an American-Irish medical device company. The company's operational and executive headquarters are in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and its legal headquarters are in Ireland due to its acquisition of Irish-based Covidien in 2015. While it primarily operates in the United States, it operates in more than 150 countries and employs over 90,000 people. It develops and manufactures healthcare technologies and therapies. It is one of the biggest medical tech companies in the world and is currently the largest medical device company in the world by revenue.
The Lindbergh operation was a complete tele-surgical operation carried out by a team of French surgeons located in New York on a patient in Strasbourg, France using telecommunications solutions based on high-speed services and sophisticated Zeus surgical robot. The operation was performed successfully on September 7, 2001 by Professor Jacques Marescaux and his team from the IRCAD. This was the first time in medical history that a technical solution proved capable of reducing the time delay inherent to long distance transmissions sufficiently to make this type of procedure possible. The name was derived from the American aviator Charles Lindbergh, because he was the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
Robot-assisted surgery or robotic surgery are any types of surgical procedures that are performed using robotic systems. Robotically assisted surgery was developed to try to overcome the limitations of pre-existing minimally-invasive surgical procedures and to enhance the capabilities of surgeons performing open surgery.
A mechanical arm is a machine that usually mimics the action of a human arm. Mechanical arms are composed of multiple beams connected by hinges powered by actuators. One end of the arm is attached to a firm base while the other has a tool. They can be controlled by humans either directly or over a distance. A computer-controlled mechanical arm is called a robotic arm. However, a robotic arm is just one of many types of different mechanical arms.
Urology Robotics, or URobotics, is a new interdisciplinary field for the application of robots in urology and for the development of such systems and novel technologies in this clinical discipline. Urology is among the medical fields with the highest rate of technology advances, which for several years has included the use medical robots.
The da Vinci Surgical System is a robotic surgical system that uses a minimally invasive surgical approach. The system is manufactured by the company Intuitive Surgical. The system is used for prostatectomies, increasingly for cardiac valve repair and for renal and gynecologic surgical procedures.
Hansen Medical, Inc, headquartered in Mountain View, California, designs and manufactures medical robotics for positioning and control of catheter-based technologies that was founded in 2002 by Frederic Moll, M.D. to develop tools that manipulate catheters by combining robotic technology and computerized movement.
The ZEUS Robotic Surgical System (ZRSS) was a medical robot designed to assist in surgery, originally produced by the American robotics company Computer Motion. Its predecessor, AESOP, was cleared by the Food and Drug Administration in 1994 to assist surgeons in minimally invasive surgery. The ZRSS itself was cleared by the FDA seven years later, in 2001. ZEUS had three robotic arms, which were remotely controlled by the surgeon. The first arm, AESOP, was a voice-activated endoscope, allowing the surgeon to see inside the patient's body. The other two robotic arms mimicked the surgeon's movements to make precise incisions and extractions. ZEUS was discontinued in 2003, following the merger of Computer Motion with its rival Intuitive Surgical; the merged company instead developed the Da Vinci Surgical System.
Frederic Moll is a physician, medical device developer and entrepreneur, specializing in the field of medical robotics.
Michael D. Stifelman Michael D. Stifelman, M.D., is Chair of Urology at Hackensack University Medical Center, Director of Robotic Surgery at Hackensack Meridian Health, and Professor and Inaugural Chair of Urology at Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine.
Mazor Robotics Ltd. was an Israeli medical device company and manufacturer of a robotic guidance system for spine surgery that was acquired by Medtronic in December 2018. Surgeons that utilized Mazor Robotics Renaissance generally specialize in orthopedic surgery or neurosurgery.
Robert W. Duggan is an American billionaire, entrepreneur, philanthropist, biotech executive and health care executive. He is the former CEO of biopharmaceutical company Pharmacyclics and was previously CEO of surgical systems maker Computer Motion from 1997 to 2003. Bob is the majority shareholder and is on the boards of directors of Pulse Biosciences and Summit Therapeutics, where he is also CEO.
The AHS Sherman Medical Center is a hospital in Sherman, Texas. Named for the Choctaw chief Wilson Nathaniel Jones (1827-1901), it has 237 beds, and employs 1000 staff. It was established in 1914.
Hudson Regional Hospital (HRH) is a private, for-profit acute care hospital, located on the Hackensack River, in Secaucus, New Jersey, on Meadowlands Parkway near Route 3. HRH has a helipad for transporting injured persons from the scene of an accident to the hospital and/or for transferring patients in critical need of specialized services from HRH to another hospital having that capability.
Dr. Georgi Stranski University Hospital is a major hospital located in Pleven, Bulgaria. It is one of the oldest in the country, as well as the largest in northern Bulgaria.
CMR Surgical is a British medical device company based in Cambridge. It produces a robot-assisted surgery system called Versius. The company achieved Unicorn status in 2019, while in 2021 it received a valuation of $3 billion.
Catherine Jane Mohr is a medical researcher from New Zealand, residing in the United States, who specializes in developing telemanipulator robotics for making surgery less invasive, and therefore providing faster recovery for patients. She had also designed fuel cells for land vehicles and high-altitude airplanes and studied sustainable architecture. Mohr is on the faculty of Stanford Medical School and is currently President of the Intuitive Foundation, the corporate foundation of Intuitive Surgical.
John Freund is an American satirist and business executive. Freund and collaborator David Porter created the 1981 satirical poster Bedtime for Brezhnev and co-authored the 1982 satirical book The Official MBA Handbook or How to Succeed in Business Without a Harvard MBA, which spent 16 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Freund is the co-founder of Intuitive Surgical, and the co-founder and former CEO of Arixa Pharmaceuticals. He founded Skyline Ventures in 1997.