CMR Surgical (CMR) – the global surgical robotics business – has today announced that it has been honoured in the first ever King’s Award for Enterprise within the innovation category for the Versius® Surgical Robotic System. CMR has been recognised for its excellence in Innovation for the development of Versius, a next-generation surgical robot. The award also recognises CMR’s approach to technology development, training, community engagement and sustainability.
Versius is the only versatile, small, modular surgical robot on the market. The innovative design biomimicks the human arm, with the small, modular robotic arms providing versatile port placement that is unparalleled in robotic assisted surgery. This allows for complex procedures to be performed robotically that would otherwise be performed using open surgery, allowing more patients to experience the benefits of robotically-assisted minimal access surgery (MAS). The versatility of the system is thanks to its small size and portability and has made robotic surgery more accessible to hospitals around the world, supporting hospitals and their surgical teams to provide more MAS to patients.
Supratim Bose, Chief Executive Officer at CMR Surgical said: “As a company that exists to improve the lives of patients globally through innovative technology, we are delighted and honoured to receive such an esteemed award, celebrating the success of CMR and Versius. The small, modular design of Versius means that hospitals where surgical robotics have previously not been feasible are now able to adopt a Versius system. It is a privilege for CMR to be able to increase access to the benefits of robotic minimal access surgery to patients around the world, and be recognised in this way.”
Luke Hares, Chief Technology Officer at CMR Surgical said: “With Versius we set out to develop an innovative product that would transform the way surgery is performed everywhere in the world. Throughout the development of Versius and the growth of CMR, we have sought to be innovative in every aspect of our thinking. It is an honour for us to win such a prestigious award celebrating outstanding achievement by UK businesses as we continue our work to help surgeons and surgical teams deliver the highest quality care to patients.”
Versius was first introduced into the NHS in late 2019 and is now in widespread use in hospitals across the world, including the UK in multispecialty robotics programmes that include thoracic surgery, gynaecology, general surgery, upper GI, urology and general surgery. Recent installations include pioneering cardiothoracic centres such as Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and national surgical robotics programmes such as in Wales. Due to the versatility of the system, Versius has been adopted by Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust as well as local teaching hospitals such as Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, where the introduction of Versius was shown to save over 450 bed-days annually.[i]
This recognition for innovation follows recent news that Versius has been used to perform more than 10,000 soft-tissue surgical cases spanning 130 different procedure types and has been installed in over 100 centres globally.
References
[i] Milton Keynes University Hospital: Versius® Robotic Assisted Surgery Case Study February 2022
