Medtronic focuses on Hugo expansion

All the major developers of surgical robots have been grappling with supply chain problems in the wake of the pandemic, but some are beginning to see the situation improve. On Medtronic’s third-quarter call yesterday its chief executive, Geoff Martha, said the company had made progress on the supply chain for and manufacturing of its Hugo robot, and was focused on scaling production. Even so, the group does not expect to book significant sales of Hugo this year. The robot is not yet approved in the US, and Medtronic has not stated whether it has even been filed, but clearly the company expects the FDA to clear the device fairly soon as it sees “a strong ramp” of Hugo sales in 2023. It is also targeting approvals for new operations, including thoracic, colorectal, hernia and bariatric procedures; Hugo’s CE mark covers urologic and gynaecologic procedures. Another big approval that could come this year is that of Symplicity Spyral, Medtronic’s renal denervation system. The group expects finally to submit data from the Spyral HTN-On Med trial to the FDA in the second half.