CMR Surgical

IMPACT CASE STUDIES

TRANSFORMING SURGERY. FOR GOOD.

IMP RATING: B – BENEFIT STAKEHOLDERS CMR Surgical has grown rapidly over the past few years with Versius, our next-generation surgical robotic system, now being used in hospitals across the world to transform the way keyhole surgery is performed. Our success is in no small part thanks to CIC, who has always had the long-term vision to support CMR. Since its initial investment, CIC has continued to support our growth and has always shared in our mission to transform surgery, for good.

PER VERGARD NERSETH

CEO

We have applied the Impact Management Project (IMP) framework (see IBC for further details) in summarising the impact of a selection of our investments.

COMPANY DESCRIPTION

CMR Surgical (CMR) is on a mission to transform surgery for patients around the world, with innovative technology and extensive data collection that can improve surgical results. From the time of CIC’s first investment in 2016, CMR has gone from prototype to a fully functioning robotic system, Versius®, a next-generation surgical robotic system which has been used to perform over 1,000 procedures in seven countries. Versius® brings all the benefits of keyhole surgery to the patient while providing surgeons with greater dexterity, precision, and better visualisation than manual keyhole surgery, allowing them to perform more complex procedures. Fitting into virtually any operating room set-up and integrating seamlessly into existing workflows, Versius® enables hospitals to offer higher-quality keyhole surgery that is cost-effective across the entire patient episode.

IMPACT THESIS

There are significant benefits to minimal access surgery (MAS) including reduced complications, lower blood loss and faster recovery time. However, manual MAS requires a high level of skill and training, such that of the 12 million surgeries per year that could be performed by MAS, only approximately half the patients have access to it due to insufficient surgeons having the specialist training required. Robotic surgery reduces the time required to attain the necessary skills to perform MAS and reduces the strain on surgeons, Robotic assisted MAS plays an important role in making minimal access surgery available to a wider group of patients who would otherwise require open surgery. By providing a cost-effective, versatile, flexible system that can be used in virtually all operating theatre settings, CMR’s Versius® system will contribute to the uptake of minimal access surgery across the globe.

IMPACT SUMMARY

The Versius® system is improving access to minimal access surgery (also known as laparoscopic surgery). For example, most healthcare systems do not currently have enough surgeons trained in MAS to adequately address the number of patients with need of surgery that could be performed laparoscopically. The shortage is exacerbated by the long training time required to build the skills required for manual MAS. In addition, the cost of currently available robotic systems is prohibitive to many healthcare systems, thereby reducing accessibility. CMR offers an affordable robotic solution by providing a cost-effective and versatile robotic system. Ultimately, this will reduce the training cost and time for laparoscopic surgery and increase the number of surgeons who have the required skills to perform MAS. The impact will be most noticeable in healthcare systems that are less able to cope with the increased costs associated with existing robotic solutions. In these markets, the cost and length of time it takes to train surgeons also reduces the number of surgeons able to perform MAS. By providing a cost-effective solution, it will be possible to offer MAS to a wider patient population who would otherwise have to undergo open surgery. Within the healthcare system, all stakeholders benefit from greater access to MAS. The patient benefits from a quicker recovery, fewer side effects and a shorter hospital stay. Healthcare providers benefit from the cost savings arising from shorter hospital admissions, fewer side effects and higher utility of their resources. The Versius® system will provide a long-term benefit as each system has an expected service life of not less than seven years. In the absence of innovation, the future uptake of MAS will be slow. The development of cost-effective robotic systems will accelerate adoption. Versius® is a hugely complex robotic system that combines hardware and software and substantial investment has been required to achieve the progress made to date. Although Versius® will continually undergo a process of improvement and the system will evolve, the technical risk associated with Versius® is relatively low. The system works and has been demonstrated in more than 1,000 surgeries to date. Versius® can be delivered to healthcare providers at a cost point that is attractive to hospitals. Although heavy investment in R&D means that the company is not yet profitable, with economies of scale, it is anticipated that in the next few years CMR will become financially sustainable and have no further requirement for additional equity financing.