Page 57 - Forbes - Asia (April 2019)
P. 57
CEO Gary Guthart next to
Intuitive Surgical’s fourth-
generation da Vinci Xi robot
at company headquarters in
Sunnyvale, California.
the head of the major U.S. professional group of obstetrics vances aimed at keeping Intuitive’s technology in the lead.
and gynecology doctors. Intuitive got back on track by ex- Still, Guthart aims to take the company beyond the da
panding into hernia repairs, which accounted for 12% of da Vinci. The Ion is a robotic-assisted bronchoscope, which re-
Vinci procedures in 2017, according to one analyst’s estimate. ceived FDA clearance in February. Guthart says the de-
But then there was yet another complication. The New Eng- vice could have helped his mother when she was successful-
land Journal of Medicine published two studies showing that ly treated for lung cancer seven years ago. Someday, the tool
women who had a minimally invasive hysterectomy—wheth- might become a way to destroy cancer cells inside the lung,
er robotic or not—to treat early-stage cervical cancer were much as gastroenterologists can both detect and remove pre-
more likely to die later of the disease than they were with cancerous polyps during a colonoscopy.
open surgery. While radical hysterectomy to treat cervical But this time Intuitive won’t be the first to market. In 2003,
cancer is not a huge portion of Intuitive’s business, Guthart Moll left the company he had cofounded and later started a
told investors in January he expects some impact. rival medical robotics company called Auris Health, attract-
What’s Guthart going to do about the new competitors, ing more than $700 million in venture capital. Auris received
which could attack all of Intuitive’s markets? Its first-mover ad- FDA clearance in March 2018 for a device to perform lung
vantage should help for a while. Hospitals invest in training biopsies. Intuitive has sued, alleging patent infringement, and
and equipment for the da Vinci, which could make it harder for Guthart says he’s not in regular contact with his former boss,
them to switch. Intuitive is adding features to the da Vinci that whose company denies the charges. The case is pending. All
seem plucked from a medical bag of healthcare buzzwords: aug- things considered, it’s fair to expect Guthart’s next nine years
mented reality, big data analytics and artificial intelligence, ad- to be more of a battle than his last nine. F
APRIL 2019 FORBES ASIA | 53
