CMR Surgical, a global surgical robotics business growing from Cambridge, has clinched a collaboration agreement with Ethicon, a New Jersey-rooted Johnson & Johnson MedTech company, to expand choice across surgical robotics and advanced laparoscopic instruments.

CMR’s Versius® system represents the next generation of collaborative surgical robotics as well as an industry leading clinical registry and comprehensive digital ecosystem that are complementary to Ethicon’s surgical technologies.

As a global leader in MedTech, Ethicon specialises in best-in-class, clinically-differentiated surgical technologies and brings a suite of digital products and solutions that provide insights and education for surgeons.

The targeted collaboration agreement will focus on select private hospitals in Italy, France, Germany and Brazil and will enable Ethicon and CMR commercial teams to offer specific hospitals the advantages of their complementary portfolios together.

This streamlines and simplifies the process for surgeons to acquire these leading tools for the full range of patient surgery needs. It will increase choice and access to a broad portfolio of robotic and laparoscopic surgery solutions.

Versius is the only small, modular and portable robot on the market and is suitable for all sizes of hospitals and surgical care centres. The system allows surgeons the versatility to perform fully robotic as well as a combination of robotic and manual laparoscopic procedures, giving them freedom to decide how to provide patients with the best possible surgical care.

The agreement with Ethicon aligns with CMR’s commercialisation strategy of rapid global expansion, as it continues to provide hospitals with Versius Surgical Robotic Systems across key geographies.

CMR will continue to work and collaborate independently, promoting and selling Versius directly to customers in these markets. The announcement follows the recent news that more than 100 Versius systems have now been installed worldwide.

CMR says it will continue to invest heavily in the high-quality training and servicing that is offered to customers adopting Versius, reinforcing the importance of education in the introduction of a new surgical robotics programme.

By bringing together state of the art technology, education and servicing it will be possible to deliver even greater benefits for surgeons and patients.

CEO Per Vegard Nerseth said: ​

“Each patient’s surgery has distinct requirements to ensure that an optimal outcome is achieved.By entering into this collaboration agreement with Ethicon in select markets, CMR believes that this combination of expertise in minimal access surgery and digital innovation will deliver an optimised offering to customers. CMR looks forward to progressing this agreement in strategically important regions as CMR continues to rapidly expand on a global scale.”