US-based robotics technology company Vicarious Surgical has signed a strategic development agreement with LSU Health New Orleans, an academic health sciences centre in Louisiana.
LSU Health New Orleans provides most of the healthcare professionals in Louisiana, with high-quality academic and training programmes.
The partnership will leverage LSU Health New Orleans’s extensive surgeon training expertise to validate training protocols and identify expected drivers of surgeon adoption.
Under the collaboration, Vicarious Surgical gets access to the LSU Health New Orleans’ network and can collaborate directly with its team of robotic surgeons and supporting staff.
In addition, the robotics technology company can collaborate for formative studies investigating the clinical and economic value proposition of its V1.0 system.
Building on LSU Health New Orleans’s profile as a regional care provider, the partnership allows Vicarious Surgical to better understand the dynamics driving adoption in these settings.
Vicarious Surgical CEO and co-founder Adam Sachs said: “We’re thrilled to partner with LSU Health New Orleans as we tailor our system development and commercial launch strategies to meet the needs of individual care networks.
“As a regional provider with a prominent academic arm, LSU Health New Orleans offers unique insight into the administrative and clinical protocols associated with regional care centres of a similar profile.
“At the same time, their emphasis on physician training, involving learners at all levels, represents a meaningful opportunity for our team to collaborate with the next generation of surgeons and gain insight into the drivers of future system adoption.”
Established in 2014, Vicarious Surgical is developing a unique technology for enhancing the efficiency of surgical procedures, improving patient outcomes, and reducing healthcare costs.
The company’s novel surgical approach leverages in-house human-like surgical robots to virtually transport surgeons inside the patient to perform minimally invasive surgery.
LSU Health New Orleans partners with the University Medical Center (UMC), which has the largest medical training centre in the state.
UMC operates a network of more than 760 physicians, 446 licensed inpatient beds, 369 exam rooms, and 23 advanced surgical suites, to treat more than 200,000 patients each year.
LSU Health New Orleans clinical surgery associate professor Michael Cook said: “As a network of providers dedicated to educating and mentoring the next generation of healthcare professionals, we are always looking at ways to improve the current standard of care.
“Soft-tissue robotic surgery is an area of focus within our organization, and the differentiated value proposition supporting Vicarious’ single-port approach represents a meaningful step towards better care for patients.
“We look forward to working with the entire Vicarious Surgical team to further our joint mission of improving patient lives.”
