How surgical robotics leader Intuitive is growing in China
China is the second-largest procedure market for Intuitive Surgical‘s da Vinci system and one of the fastest-growing markets for the surgical robotics developer.
But China’s been a tough country for medical device manufacturers due to the sales and supply chain challenges of COVID-19, the country’s volume-based procurement (VBP) policy, and home-grown competitors.
Glenn Vavoso, SVP and Asia-Pacific (APAC) GM at Intuitive Surgical — one of the world’s largest medical device companies – recently spoke with DeviceTalks Editorial Director Tom Salemi for the latest edition of IntuitiveTalks.
DeviceTalks West: Intuitive President Dave Rosa will be a keynote speaker on Oct. 19
Here are just a few highlights from Vavoso on Intuitive’s experience and activities in China:
Doing business in China
“You’ve got to establish the clinical value first and foremost, and then for hospital executives — and maybe even moreso government officials and the officials that are over the health care system — what is ultimately the economic value that robotics might provide. That is no different in China,” Vavoso said. “I think maybe what other industries have experienced in China with changes in reimbursement policy or changes just in pricing and price controls, that has not yet sort of found its way to robotics in the same fashion. It’s still in many ways early days of adoption in China. They want to see the robotic healthcare industry be supported in these early times. And so where you see those general price controls happen where there are many competitors, it’s more of commodities and they’re looking to control health care costs.”
Growing da Vinci in China
Intuitive Surgical’s da Vinci surgical robotics system [Photo courtesy of Intuitive Surgical]
“In China, it is a market that historically has been tapped on how many systems can be imported and installed over a given period of time,” he continued…
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