Intuitive Surgical deepens Shanghai ties, Guthart says

Intuitive Surgical has been operating in China for 20 years and formed Intuitive Fosun, a joint venture with Fosun Pharma, in Shanghai in 2017. Shanghai now serves as the company's home base in China. These long-standing arrangements underpin the collaboration Guthart described at the IBLAC meeting.

According to Guthart, more than 22,000 trained Chinese physicians have used Intuitive's systems to treat about 1 million patients in China. The company operates a clinical training center in Shanghai and works with hospitals and physicians to support the application of robotic-assisted surgery. Intuitive is also collaborating with China-based technology companies specializing in areas including computer vision for healthcare and surgical procedure planning, and its Ion robotic bronchoscopy system is already in use in China.

Guthart said Shanghai's combination of hospitals, engineering expertise, technology companies, manufacturing capacity, and professional training provided a strong foundation for further collaboration. He also identified secure integration of high-quality healthcare data as an important area for further development, and noted that closer collaboration among hospitals, policymakers, and technology companies, supported by privacy protection and cybersecurity, could help improve clinical outcomes and expand access to advanced healthcare.