The number of surgeries in the first quarter of orthopedic surgical robots is expected to be gratifying, and the prelude to the rapid commercialization may have arrived

"In the first quarter of this year, I can clearly feel that there are more orthopedic surgeries performed using surgical robots. Recently, the reporter received such feedback from an orthopedic surgeon in a public hospital in Beijing during the interview.

　　Regarding this change, the doctor said that on the one hand, there are indeed some difficult surgeries that require robotic assistance; On the other hand, patients' acceptance of orthopedic surgical robots is also slowly increasing, and "some patients are beginning to realize that the treatment effect of robot-assisted orthopedic surgery is more guaranteed."

　　According to the data collected by Guolian Securities, the market space of orthopedic surgical robots in China has increased from 17 million yuan in 2016 to 206 million yuan in 2021, with a compound annual growth rate of 64.9%. It is expected to reach 4.205 billion yuan in 2026, with a CAGR of 82.8% from 2021 to 2026, and is expected to become the next widely used field after laparoscopic surgical robots.

　　In the first quarter, the number of orthopedic robotic surgeries may increase significantly

　　Orthopedic surgical robots began in the early 90s of the 20th century, first originated in the United States, with the development of technology, product performance continues to improve, and the treatment indications have gradually broadened from the hip joint to the knee joint, spine and other parts. However, compared with laparoscopic surgical robots, the development of orthopedic surgical robots in China and even the world is relatively late. Mainland China's research on orthopedic surgical robots began in 2001, and in 2010, the first domestic orthopedic surgical robot developed by TINAVI was approved for marketing.

　　Compared with traditional surgery, the robot-assisted operation of orthopedic surgery can maximize the safety of soft tissues around the surgical field, so as to achieve minimally invasive, accurate, safe and reproducible orthopedic surgery and reduce the risk of complications. In this process, the precision and minimally invasive routine surgery, the safety of complex surgery, and the standard intelligence of key operations have also been realized, so as to shorten the learning curve of doctors for complex surgery.

　　Based on the above advantages, in recent years, major countries around the world, including the mainland, have increased the research and development of orthopedic surgical robots.

　　In 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other ten departments officially released the "14th Five-Year Plan" for the development of the medical equipment industry, which clarified the development goals, key tasks and safeguard measures of the medical robot industry during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period. This year, the State Council issued the "Action Plan for Promoting Large-scale Equipment Renewal and Trade-in of Consumer Goods", proposing to strengthen the construction of a high-quality and efficient medical and health service system, promote the iterative upgrading of medical and health equipment and information facilities, and encourage qualified medical institutions to accelerate the renewal and transformation of medical equipment such as surgical robots. All of them provide support for the development of surgical robots from the policy level.

　　An industry source close to TINAVI, the "first stock of surgical robots" in China, told reporters that in the first quarter of 2024, the company's surgical robot surgery volume has indeed increased significantly, "Judging from the current clinical feedback information, the upward trend of surgical volume is still relatively obvious." ”

　　According to the data disclosed by TINAVI in the past periodic reports, from January to September 2023, the cumulative number of surgeries performed by the company's Dimensity orthopedic surgical robots exceeded 16,000, an increase of more than 70% over the same period of the previous year, which is much higher than the level of 12,000 surgical robots performed by the company in 2022.

　　In addition, as of the end of September 2023, the company's Dimensity orthopedic surgical robot has been routinely applied in more than 180 hospitals, and the cumulative number of surgeries has exceeded 50,000. According to sources, in the first quarter of 2024, the surgical volume of TINAVI's orthopedic surgical robots will increase more significantly on the basis of the previous period. The continuous penetration of TINAVI's products in clinical applications also reflects the acceleration trend of commercialization of orthopedic surgical robots in mainland China.

　　The prospect of commercialization is considerable

　　Behind the acceleration of commercialization is the improvement of the technical strength of orthopedic surgical robots and the broadening of clinical use scenarios.

　　Take the two major brands that started earlier and have the highest market share in China as an example. In October 2023, TINAVI received the "Medical Device Change Registration (Filing) Document" issued by the National Medical Products Administration, approving the change in the scope of application of the company's third-generation orthopedic surgery navigation and positioning system. At present, the scope of application of this surgical robot product has been expanded from the original only for "open or percutaneous surgery for spine surgery and trauma orthopedics" to "open or percutaneous surgery for spine surgery and trauma orthopedics" and "total knee replacement surgery".

　　As a result, TINAVI's orthopedic surgical robot products have achieved multi-indication coverage in one machine, including cervical spine, thoracic spine, lumbar spine, sacral spine full-segment spine surgery, pelvic, acetabulum, limb and other parts of trauma surgery and total knee replacement surgery. This is also the world's first surgical robot product that can achieve full coverage of orthopedic surgery in the three major fields of spine, joint, and trauma on one device.

　　The hip replacement surgery robot under Jianjia Medical is the first domestic hip replacement surgery robot approved by the NMPA. IN ADDITION, THE COMPANY'S ARTHROBOT HIP REPLACEMENT SURGERY ROBOT BECAME THE FIRST DOMESTIC HIP REPLACEMENT SURGERY ROBOT TO OBTAIN THE REGISTRATION CERTIFICATE OF CLASS III MEDICAL DEVICES IN APRIL 2022, AND THE KNEE REPLACEMENT INDICATION OBTAINED THE REGISTRATION CERTIFICATE IN JANUARY 2023.

　　In the view of Guolian Securities, surgical robots can solve the clinical pain points of doctors, patients and hospitals by virtue of their advantages of precision, minimally invasive and remote control, and are expected to become a common tool for minimally invasive surgery in the future. The commercial application of surgical robots depends on the accumulation of a large number of clinical trials and the recognition of doctors' operating habits, so companies with first-mover advantages will maintain their leading position, and the fastest progress of laparoscopic and orthopedic robots is the focus of attention.

　　According to Frost & Sullivan, the global market size of surgical robots exceeded $10 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach $32.5 billion by 2026. With the continuous development of surgical robot technology and clinical applications, the penetration rate of surgical robots is expected to increase in the future, and the market size is expected to reach 26 billion yuan in 2026.

　　With the continuous expansion of clinical indications and market promotion, domestic surgical robots are expected to break the monopoly of imports and usher in the rapid development of commercialization. Guolian Securities said.