A CUT ABOVE: ASENSUS SURGICAL-KARL STORZ MOU TO MARKET INTELLIGENT SURGICAL UNIT

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 17 (Bernama) -- Medical device company, Asensus Surgical Inc has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with KARL STORZ VentureONE Pte Ltd (KARL STORZ), a wholly owned subsidiary of KARL STORZ SE & Co. KG.

KARL STORZ SE & Co. KG is a global leader in the medical technologies industry, especially in the area of endoscopes, medical instruments and devices that offers state-of-the-art technology for minimally invasive procedures in virtually all surgical specialties.

Under the MoU, KARL STORZ intends to market and sell Asensus’ Intelligent Surgical Unit (ISU) as a standalone device together with their IMAGE1 S Imaging system and OR1 integration solution.

In addition, the companies intend to work together on the integration of the ISU into KARL STORZ's laparoscopic vision systems, and jointly collaborate on developing next-generation instrumentation to be used with Asensus and KARL STORZ surgical platforms.

According to Asensus Surgical in a statement, the detailed terms are currently being negotiated, and definitive agreements will be finalised within 90 days.

“By leveraging their extensive commercial network, leading visualisation systems and longtime instrumentation expertise,we can bring the tremendous value of augmented intelligence offered by the ISU to operating rooms worldwide.

“Beyond the benefits of their commercial scale, the co-development of new instruments will combine two unique R&D teams at the forefront of their fields to ultimately deliver best in class instruments to surgeons,” said Asensus Surgical President and Chief Executive Officer, Anthony Fernando.

Meanwhile, KARL STORZ Managing Director, Stephan Abele said: “This partnership with Asensus is a natural fit as we shared a vision for what digital surgery, and especially laparoscopy, could be in the future.”

Asensus Surgical is digitising the interface between the surgeon and patient to pioneer a new era of Performance-Guided Surgery by unlocking clinical intelligence for surgeons to enable consistently superior outcomes and a new standard of surgery.

-- BERNAMA