On November 16, at the Minimally Invasive Robotics Group Surgical Robotics Global Remote Command Center in Zhangjiang, Shanghai, French surgeon Dr. Youness Ahallal used a Chinese-made Tumay robot to successfully perform robotic remote prostate cancer treatment for patients in Casablanca, Morocco, 12,000 kilometers away in Shanghai. The entire operation took less than two hours, and the entire operation was completed remotely. The delay time was only over 100 ms.

At this stage, surgical robots can perform almost all operations that can be performed by endoscopic surgery, covering nearly all fields of surgery, including general surgery, cardiac surgery, urology, gynecology, otolaryngology, orthopedics, neurosurgery, and orthopedics.

According to clinical applications, surgical robot systems can be broadly divided into 5 categories, namely endoscopic robots, orthopedic robots, natural cavity robots, vascular pan-vascular robots, and percutaneous puncture robots.

The Zhitong Finance App learned that the endoscopic surgical robot is currently the most advanced surgical technology in the world. It is also the largest and most mature commercialized type of surgical robot system in the market.

According to the Markets & Markets analysis report, the global surgical robot market size is about 11.1 billion US dollars in 2024, and the global surgical robot market is expected to reach 23.7 billion US dollars by 2029, with a compound annual growth rate of 16.5%.

However, the two segments of endoscopy and orthopedics alone account for about 80% of the surgical robot market, and endoscopy accounts for more than 60%.

Meanwhile, according to the analysis report of Qianji Investment Bank, endoscopic robots account for 74.9% of the Chinese surgical robot market, followed by orthopedic robots accounting for 10% and percutaneous puncture robots accounting for 4.9%, respectively.

After more than 20 years of development, “Leonardo da Vinci” has supported the trillion-dollar market value of intuitive surgery, while also verifying that domestic and foreign markets have plenty of room for imagination; domestic endoscopic surgery robot companies such as Shurui, Weijing Medical, Minimally Invasive Robotics, Jingfeng Medical, Scherui, Ruilong Nuofu, and Weigao Surgery are speeding up and seizing the market.

Currently, the business model of the surgical robot industry in China is mainly to drive sales of surgical consumables and services through the installation of surgical robot equipment on the hospital side. In the future, with China's aging trend and strong support from policies such as health insurance policies and industry development support, the overall development prospects of the industry are broad.

Hong Kong stocks related to the surgical robot concept:

MEDBOT-B (02252): The company's revenue for the six months ended June 30, 2024 is expected to increase significantly by about 103% to 108% year-on-year compared to the six months ended June 30, 2023. The company Tumai was approved for marketing by the NMPA on January 27, 2022 (used in urology). It is the first and only four-arm endoscopic surgical robot independently developed and marketed by a Chinese company. In October 2023, it was approved for application in multiple departments of urology, general surgery, gynecology, and thoracic surgery. In 2023, Tumai completed installation sales of multiple products, winning bids in more than 15 domestic hospitals, topping the sales list of domestic brands of endoscopic surgery robots; the company Honghu obtained NMPA approval for listing in TKA surgery. In September 2023, it became the first domestic hip-knee integrated orthopedic surgery robot approved to be equipped with a self-developed robotic arm, compatible with TKA and THA. Obtaining 510 (K) certification from the FDA in July 2022, and obtaining CE certification in December 2022. It was certified in Asia, North America, South America, Europe and Oceania, which is a key milestone in the company's globalization strategy. At present, Honghu has won bids/installed multiple units at home and abroad. The cumulative order delivery volume has exceeded 20 units, and has completed more than 800 robot-assisted clinical surgeries in orthopedics, joint surgery, and sports medicine departments in more than 40 hospitals in 16 provinces across the country.

Elken Medical (01789): The robotic system for joint surgery has recently been approved for marketing.

Weigao Co., Ltd. (01066): In October 2021, Weigao's “Wonderful Hand” endoscopic surgical robot was approved for listing by the State Drug Administration. This is the first domestically produced endoscopic surgical robot approved for marketing in China.

Fosun Pharmaceuticals (02196): Fosun Pharmaceuticals is involved in this field through its subsidiary Intuitive Fosun Medical Device Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (“Intuitive Fosun” for short). Recently, the “Intuitive Fosun Headquarters Industrial Base Opening Ceremony” was held in Shanghai. According to reports, the total investment of the base project is about 0.7 billion yuan. This is also the largest integrated R&D, production and training base for American Intuitive Medical in the Asia-Pacific region. The initial operation of the new headquarters will focus on the production of Leonardo da Vinci surgical robots and some parts of the Ion system.