More than a year after Medtronic finalized its $1.64 billion acquisition of Mazor Robotics, Medtronic CEO Omar Ishrak, PhD, says the purchase is showing early signs of success, CNBC reports.
"It's only beginning to pay off," Dr. Ishrak said during a conversation with Mad Money host Jim Cramer at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco last week. "We're delighted with the results that we're seeing and our spine business this last year — ever since I've been here — has had its strongest year, and the robot has played a big role in that."
Medtronic reportedly saw strong revenue increases in its spine and brain therapies segments in 2019 and attributed those earnings to robotics, including its acquisition of Mazor Robotics, which develops guidance systems for minimally invasive brain and spine procedures. The company reportedly shared at the conference its predictions that its minimally invasive therapies operations will see massive growth through the 2023 fiscal year.
"Most importantly, what [the technology] does is it makes the procedures consistent," said Dr. Ishrak, who will step down as CEO at the end of April. "We're integrating it with other technologies, such as our navigation system and eventually our imaging system."
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