Intuitive Surgical and Dextera to Develop Robotic Staplers

The joint development program will create a surgical stapler and cartridge for use with Intuitive's da Vinci surgical system.

Qmed Staff

Dextera Surgical (Redwood City, CA) this week announced a partnership with Intuitive Surgical related to combine Dextera's surgical stapler technology with Intuitive's surgical robotics systems.

The joint development program, which is for Intuitive's surgical system, comes after a six-month feasibility evaluation of Dextera's MicroCutter technology. The evaluation took place as part of a licensing agreement already existing between the two companies.

Dextera boasts its MicroCutter 5/80 Stapler as the world's first and only five mm surgical stapler, able to articulate to to 80 degrees in each direction. Intuitive will focus on the stapler, and Dextera will handle development of the cartridge.

"This partnership with Intuitive Surgical is a significant step in the progress we have achieved in enhancing and expanding the long term opportunity of the MicroCutter technology," Dextera Surgical CEO Julian Nikolchev said in a news release.

"Intuitive Surgical is a leader in advancing robotic and minimally invasive surgery, and we believe Dextera and MicroCutter technology will have a strong role to play in these types of procedures in the future," Nikolchev said.

Bob DeSantis, senior vice president of instrument engineering at Intuitive Surgical, thinks integrating the MicroCutter technology will expand Intuitive's stapling product offerings and enable improved surgical outcomes. "For more than 20 years, we have focused on delivering high-value solutions that improve surgical outcomes."

Chris Newmarker is senior editor of Qmed. Follow him on Twitter at @newmarker.

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