Orthopedic giant Smith & Nephew (FTSE:SN, NYSE:SNN) is dipping its toes into robotic surgery with a new agreement to integrate its Journey Uni partial knee implant with robotic surgical navigation systems made by Blue Belt Technologies.
Surgeons will be able to use Blue Belt’s Navio orthopedic surgical system to plan surgery, prepare bone and precisely navigate how the Journey Uni implant is placed in the knee joint, without requiring preoperative CT scanning.
"Combining the benefits of our Journey Uni implant with the robotic precision offered by Navio is a very exciting prospect for us," Smith & Nephew orthopedic reconstruction senior vice president Scott Elliott said in prepared remarks. "A concern with partial knees is that they can be difficult to align and balance. Thanks to this agreement, surgeons now have a navigation system that helps alleviate that surgical concern, as well as a partial knee that directly addresses implant durability."
The Navio system has been on the U.S. market since January 2013 (after winning FDA clearance in December 2012) and has been used in more than 450 unicondylar knee replacement procedures, according to Blue Belt. The robot is designed with "open-implant architecture," allowing surgeons to use the robot with a variety of implants from various manufacturers. Blue Belt also has its own Strike Unicondylar Knee system that is optimized for use with the Navio robot.
"Our company is focused on bringing technology solutions to bear in clinically relevant applications, and therefore commercial programs with great partners like Smith & Nephew are important in allowing us to expand our market penetration of the Navio system," Blue Belt president & CEO Eric Timko said in prepared remarks. "We are proud of our success in the market and we will continue to work to build on our momentum."