Surgical robotic assistant for TKA completes prototype test
Ganymed Robotics, a developer of robotics technologies for orthopaedic surgeons, has announced the successful completion of functional prototype tests of its surgical robotic assistant for total knee arthroplasty (TKA).
This study was comprised of a series of successful silico, phantom and cadaveric tests.
Sophie Cahen, founder and CEO of Ganymed Robotics, said: “We are entering an effervescent and high-growth phase of the robotic-assisted orthopaedics market; our technological advance allows us to come in with a vastly superior product in terms of surgeons’ experience and overall efficiency than incumbent technologies. Our goal is to become the surgical method of reference for total knee arthroplasties.”
Knee arthroplasty is an extremely widespread surgical intervention for the treatment of arthritis, concerning more than 2 million patients worldwide each year, still associated with high dissatisfaction rates of above 20%. With tens of millions of patients expected in the coming decade, total knee arthroplasty has become a major public health issue. Ganymed Robotics’ proprietary technology aims at drastically improving patient outcomes and surgeon experience through higher prosthesis precision and reduced interventions’ duration.
All technologically-assisted knee arthroplasties today involve a complex, time-consuming and potentially dangerous registration step that require a physical bone palpation and the insertion of bone pins into the patient’s tibia and femur. The functional tests demonstrated the efficacity of Ganymed Robotics’ solution, providing advanced computer vision for scene perception (contactless registration), both instantaneous and riskless for the patient. This innovative feature is a revolution for computer-assisted orthopaedics and represents a major milestone in the deployment of Ganymed Robotics’ vision to simplify surgeons’ jobs while leaving them in full control of the surgery.
Michel Bonnin, lead clinical advisor of the company and former president of the Hip and Knee French Society, said: “Contactless registration and surgeon-friendly-design make this device a dream come true for surgeons. No more cutting jigs, no more painful and time-consuming registration process. Just the help we need when we need it, to always get it right.”
Since the closing of its €2 million second funding round in March 2020, Ganymed Robotics secured an additional €1 million non-dilutive funding from Bpifrance’s “Deep Tech” program dedicated to France’s most promising deep tech companies. In the midst of a nationwide lockdown, the team of 14 engineers and PhDs filed multiple patents to further protect the company’s technology platform and finalised the detailed design of the functional prototype.
Ganymed Robotics plans to initiate regulatory processes for its knee arthroplasty solution in 2021 and progressively deploy its technology platform to additional orthopaedic indications.
Related: Behavioral Health Benefits Provider Spring Health Raises US 76 Million