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Medicine
BusinessChina Business

Fosun Pharma prepares to deliver Da Vinci surgical robots to make advanced medical treatment affordable to Chinese patients

  • Fosun Pharma has a 40 per cent share in a venture with Intuitive Surgical to locally produced surgical robots for the mainland market
  • The CIIE expo, the world’s largest import trade show, ended on Friday with a record US$78.4 billion worth of deals

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Visitors looking at Fosun Pharma’s locall-produced Da Vinci surgical system in the Medical Equipment and Healthcare Exhibition Area during the CIIE 2023 Expo in Shanghai on November 6. Shanghai, China. Photo: Future Publishing via Getty Images
Daniel Renin Shanghai
Fosun International, through its Shanghai-based healthcare unit, is ready to deliver its first locally built Da Vinci surgical robots to its clients in a major step to make advanced medical technology affordable to Chinese patients.
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The first robot has been fully built and completed for an undisclosed client, more than a year after its unit Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group (Fosun Pharma) joined with California-based Intuitive Surgical to build a 700 million yuan (US$96 million) research and production base in Shanghai.
Some 360 imported Da Vinci robots have been delivered to local clients, Fosun Pharma announced at the China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai earlier this week. The company added that it had secured more orders for the robot to be produced at its Shanghai facility.
“We will constantly make efforts to commercialise some great innovative research, turning some of the exhibits into products [for clinical treatment],” group chairman and co-founder Guo Guangchang told reporters at the China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai earlier this week.
Fosun’s chairman Guo Guangchang seen during an interview in November 2020. Photo: Thomas Yau
Fosun’s chairman Guo Guangchang seen during an interview in November 2020. Photo: Thomas Yau
Banking on artificial intelligence, the Da Vinci surgical system allows a surgeon to perform complex, minimally-invasive operations from a console. The robotic apparatus, made by California-based Intuitive Surgical, has been used in more than 10 million surgeries with better results and quicker patient recoveries.
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In his opening remarks at the CIIE expo, Premier Li Qiang said consumer vigour and further reopening of China’s economy could give a much-needed boost to the stalling global economy. Local production of surgery robots would be a major milestone in China’s efforts to bring best-in-class technology to local patients, analysts said.

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