Shanghai, China - On July 23, 2022, an online product launch event was successfully held for MicroPort^® Honghu Orthopedic Surgery Robot (“MicroPort^® Honghu”) independently developed by MicroPort NaviBot (Suzhou) Co., Ltd (“MicroPort^® NaviBot^®”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Shanghai MicroPort MedBot (Group) Co., Ltd. (“MicroPort^® MedBot^®”, 02252.HK). As the first and only orthopedic surgery robot equipped with a Chinese company's self-developed robotic arm with its own intellectual property rights, MicroPort^® Honghu has received approval for marketing by China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) in April 2022. The approval of MicroPort^® Honghu will further break the monopoly of imported products on the domestic orthopedic joint robot market, promote the rapid development of smart orthopedic surgery robots designed and developed in China, furtherly realize personalized, precise and minimally invasive treatment, and create conditions for the promotion of surgical robot technology in primary hospitals to benefit more patients. Nearly 20,000 industry experts watched the launch event live online, together witnessing the presentation of this milestone achievement. 

MicroPort^® Honghu has demonstrated the technical advantages in terms of precision, synergy, safety and compatibility. Before the surgery, the system’s planning system can help the surgeon develop a personalized plan for prosthetic implantation based on the patient's CT scan data and prosthetic model data. During the surgery, it draws on the precise positioning developed in advance to quickly complete the osteotomy and improve the accuracy and efficiency of surgery through alignment technologies combined with the proprietary high dexterity, lightweight robotic arm. With MicroPort^® Honghu, medullary cavity positioning and intramedullary rod implantation typically needed in traditional surgery can be avoided, thereby reducing surgical injury and bleeding, improving lower limb strength line postoperatively, reducing complications, and helping patients recover quickly.

The project team of Honghu masters the underlying core technologies with key technology indicators equivalent to that of international products, making it a world leading product. As the product may enable precise, efficient and safe surgery, it also helps reduce the learning curve and the psychological burden for primary care physicians. Meanwhile, it may make conventional surgeries minimally invasive, standardize complicated surgeries and intelligentized challenging surgeries, thus providing high-standard and high-level intelligent treatment solutions for patients with joint diseases in China.   We are very proud that the domestic minimally invasive surgery robots are widely recognized by the experts and the patients. We hereby sincerely thank all experts and industry peers. Together we have witnessed the development of domestic surgical robots, and enabled more surgical specialists to have a better understanding of minimally invasive surgical robots. In future, we hope to have more communication and cooperation with surgical robot specialists at home and abroad to apply our ideals and technologies for clinical application into the development of new-generation surgical robots, realizing the original aspiration of “Make Surgery Easier, Safer and Less Invasive”.  

Congratulations on the launch of MicroPort^® Honghu Orthopedic Surgery Robot. The powerful combination of MicroPort^® Honghu and the medial-pivot knee complements, significantly increases the satisfaction of patients after the surgery, truly realizing the aspiration to prolong and reshape the lives of patients. In the future, MedBot^® Orthopedics and MicroPort^® MedBot^® will continue to integrate medical resources, promote synergy, provide comprehensive one-stop supporting service for clinical application and patients covering professional education, technical service and digital learning platform, and further help with the access to superior medical resources.

Li Huiwu, the director of Orthopaedics Department, The Ninth People’s Hospital of Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine shared his personal experience during the 7 years’ cooperation with MicroPort^® Honghu project from product conception, design development to clinical trial and final launch, which is a touching cooperation between the treatment and the industry.  

During the event, an expert discussion session was organized hosted by Doctor Chen Yangbin, the general manager of MicroPort^® NaviBot^®, and five experts that have participated in the clinical trial for registration of MicroPort^® Honghu, i.e. Li Huiwu, the director of Orthopaedics Department, The Ninth People’s Hospital of Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Huangwei, director of The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Yangliu, director of The Southwest Hospital of AMU, Zhang Haining, director of the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, and Xuqiang, director of Yantai Yuhuangding Hospital. Together, they made in-depth discussion on the prospect and direction of MicroPort^® Honghu and the future development of Chinese orthopedic robot industry.

This successful launch event and the approval of FDA obtained recently all indicate that MicroPort^® Honghu is continuously mastering the key core technologies, breaking the monopoly of foreign countries on crucial technologies, and has been recognized by industry experts and patients in terms of professional quality and core technologies. This not only accelerates the pace of replacing foreign products with domestic products, but also will go abroad to serve the international medical market representing the intelligent manufacturing products in China. In the future, MicroPort^® MedBot^® will continue to make breakthroughs in key technologies, provide more precise, intelligent and affordable surgery solutions for the clinical application to serve health care professionals and bring benefits to patients around the world.