Editor's comment: It's a deal: Forward thinking medtech

In her latest editor's comment, Lu Rahman offers her thoughts on Medtronic's acquisition of Digital Surgery, and how it highlights the astute nature of the medtech sector. 

It’s no news to anyone that the medtech space continues to push the boundaries of innovation on a regular basis. While that innovation doesn’t happen overnight, what is more exciting (well, I think so, anyway) is the way that key players in the sector continue to seek news ways of improving both their offering as well as the way that clinicians and patients, receive care.

Medtronic recently announced the acquisition of Digital Surgery, a pioneer in surgical artificial intelligence (AI), data and analytics, and digital education and training. The company’s mission is to digitise surgical protocols using computing and to support the delivery of consistent, data-driven and evidence-based surgical care. 

According to Medtronic, the acquisition will strengthen the its robotic-assisted surgery platform, among other benefits. The move should help advance Medtronic’s  desire to use AI and data within laparoscopic and robotic-assisted surgery.

While you could view this as another big business looking to further its medtech footprint, you might also feel that cases like these highlight how astute the medtech sector is becoming. It’s no secret that the industry – in the UK, Ireland and on a global level – has enormous economical potential as well as having a hugely positive effective on the health outcomes of millions of people across the world. But moves such as this one from Medtronic show forward-thinking the sector actually is. By acquiring Digital Surgery, Medtronic now has the ability to use big data to both create benchmarks but also to analyse large numbers of customers. This is highly beneficial to the business of course but on a wider level, the acquisition brings significant benefits to surgeons. They will see better outcomes via real-time technology. This of course bodes well for patient outcomes too.

“Joining Medtronic creates an incredible opportunity to realize the promise of reducing unwarranted variability in surgery,” said Dr. Jean Nehme, surgeon, CEO and co-founder of Digital Surgery. “We have always believed in computational power and data as two central drivers of consistency and quality in surgery. Computational power has impacted our lives in so many ways, and within surgery it is almost absent. By joining forces with Medtronic, we will finally apply computing and AI to surgery on a meaningful scale with a goal of helping more patients in more places benefit from consistently high-quality surgical care.” 

I find this ‘meaningful’ aspect of the sector fascinating. Through expertise and an ongoing desire to increase standards of surgery, the knock-on effect is a clear-cut benefit to the likes of me and you. Of course, companies like Medtronic have a keen eye on the bottom line, but when the outcome of a business deal results in better medical care, who really wants to complain?

We are also continuing to see an ongoing and positive role for data in the medtech environment. Issues around security and privacy are ongoing however, thanks to advances in medical devices and the way they collect health data, we have huge potential to understand illness as well as track conditions to help avoid life-threatening outcomes. Not only does this benefit the patient but it can help lower associated hospital care.

There’s a lot to think about in Medtronic’s acquisition. In a time that readily derides technology, business and data, it’s encouraging to see how these elements can pull together to show promise for patients on a global scale.