Australian medtech company Remedy Robotics achieves breakthrough in neurointervention
This insight led him to pursue his co-founder, Jake Sganga, a doctoral student in robotics, after convincing a professor to introduce himself. “I pestered the robotics professor and said, ‘Give me your smartest graduating PhD student and I’ll go chat with him,'” Bell said. “I think he thought I was crazy, but I won him over.”
Remote operation of surgical robots has long been the industry’s holy grail. Market leader Intuitive Surgical, now NASDAQ-listed, started with similar goals, but technical difficulties for almost 30 years made it impossible to achieve.
Remedy solved this problem by creating a full-fledged solution consisting of hardware and software to control everything from latency to the streaming of medical images. The company has 45 patents related to the system.
This breakthrough is especially important for stroke treatment. Endovascular thrombectomy, in which doctors thread catheters through arteries to remove blood clots in the brain, is considered the gold standard for stroke emergencies. However, the procedure is so complex that it can only be performed in specialized hospitals in major cities.
Surgeons at the University of Toronto after completing the successful procedure, a world first.Credit: Solution Robotics
For the 445,000 stroke survivors in Australia (a number expected to more than double by 2050), geography can be fatal. The economic cost of strokes alone is estimated at over $32 billion annually.
Australian Stroke Alliance co-chair Professor Stephen Davis said the technology was addressing a critical gap in care. Currently Darwin stroke patients need to be transported 3000 kilometers away to Adelaide for treatment.
“Remote indigenous communities are virtually unable to access this modern treatment due to the time barrier,” Davis said. “This new technique allows the doctor in Darwin to insert the catheter into the inguinal artery, and then the remote specialist can do the rest.”
The technology will be validated in trials led by Professor Bernard Yan from the Royal Melbourne Hospital and Professor Hal Rice from Queensland. Initial procedures will be supported by experts in the field.
“We believe this is possible, but high-quality research is needed to validate the technique,” Davis said. “Initially, we will carry out these studies in the rural center with a back-up specialist neurointerventionist, so that if the technique cannot work remotely, there will be someone on site who can do it.”
Blackbird Ventures partners Phoebe Harrop, Tom Humphrey and Michael Tolo.Credit: Blackbird
Remedy Robotics’ team of 18 people, 15 of whom are technical, is planning Australian trials for remote stroke treatment while raising funds in the US to gain Food and Drug Administration approval for local use. Bell declined to specify the funding target but said the company is “relatively close to closing” the round.
Blackbird Ventures, which is backing Remedy alongside US firm DCVC and Tony Fadell’s Build Collective, sees the surgery’s milestone as validation of the company’s ambitious vision.
“Remedy Robotics is pushing the boundaries of what is possible in modern medicine,” said Blackbird partner Michael Tolo. “The team’s ability to combine cutting-edge robotics, advanced machine learning, and real-time imaging to enable remote cardiovascular intervention is nothing short of transformational.”
The company has published academic articles on remote robotic neurointervention in leading journals and serves as the exclusive robotic partner for Mission Thrombectomy, a global stroke initiative.
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Bell, who worked as a doctor for eight years, including training in cardiac surgery in Sydney and air rescue work in the South Pacific, said he never really loved medicine despite his family’s medical dynasty.
“I’m a creative person, like a frustrated engineer,” Bell said. “What I find crazy is that we tolerate where someone lives affects their access to healthcare.”
While some may see fully autonomous surgery in the future, Bell suspects “a doctor will be involved for a very long time, even if they just sit back and watch nothing go wrong.”
Patients’ reaction to the world-first procedures was extremely positive. “The response so far has been very, very good,” Bell said. “I think patients see the good side of technology.”
