REVO

meerecompany held a press conference on Revo-i, a laparoscopic surgery robot, presenting the whole course from development to commercialization and the Surgical Robot Industry Division's future strategy

meerecompany (CEO: Joon Koo Kim) held a press conference on April 8 at its Seoul office (Songpa) to present its industry strategy for the laparoscopic surgery robot Revo-i (hereafter referred to as Revo-i). It presented its industrial achievements related to Revo-i, being the only domestic company that succeeded in the commercialization of a laparoscopic surgery robot and shared its industrial strategy and vision for Revo-i for this year.

meerecompany, founded in November 1984, offers surgical solutions, including the first domestic laparoscopic surgery robot. meerecompany successfully expanded from its major business of displays and semiconductor process equipment to the healthcare medical device business.

As the first domestic laparoscopic surgery robot developed with unique domestic technology, Revo-i was initially designed and developed to have a boom type and open console. However, the current column type and closed console were finally determined through 5 repetitions of design review and prototyping.

Hyeong Ju Kim, laboratory head of the Surgical Robot Division of meerecompany, described how it was developed. "We developed Revo-i with a focus on the elements that are considered to be most important by the user. Although uniqueness in terms of function and design compared to traditional products are also important, we mainly focused on usability for the operating surgeon, who would be using the surgical robot for a long time. We also focused on surgery safety, which can affect the patient prognosis."

Revo-i features great benefits, such as allowing free movement using multi-joint instruments while providing a magnified view for more detail with a 3D high-resolution stereoscopic image, which improves accuracy in surgery and minimizes incisions for faster patient recovery. It provides an intuitive user experience. Even doctors who have only performed laparotomy or laparoscopic surgery with no previous actual experience in robotic surgery can perform, just as if they are using their own hands. They can easily get used to the Revo-i robot surgery. Furthermore, the use environment is familiar to operating surgeons, which helps reduce the learning curve.

Since launching in the domestic market, Revo-i has been expanding to various indications, including urology, surgery, and ob-gyn. Based on the end of the last year, 100 cases of Revo-i robotic surgery have been successfully performed in a specialized surgery hospital located in Gangnam with 0 surgery complications occurring. The number of surgery cases for hysteromyoma and ovarian cyst is also constantly increasing in a hospital for women located in Busan. Recently, the Korea Cancer Center Hospital, a general hospital-level public medical institution, has also introduced Revo-i. This was followed by various successful clinical cases, including prostate cancer, kidney cancer, rectal cancer, colon cancer, and thyroid cancer.

“Although it was not easy to develop and finally commercialize Revo-i using our own domestic technology, we are now seeing a constant increase in Revo-i surgery cases. Revo-i is actively being used for various major cancer diseases, from low-difficulty surgeries such as cholecystotomy to high-difficulty ones such as radical prostatectomy, partial nephrectomy, thyroid surgery, and low anterior resection. Accordingly, we are seeing a growing interest by potential clients,” said Ho Kun Lee, executive director and head of the Surgical Robot Industry Division at meerecompany.

Meanwhile, many countries, except for developed ones, as well as domestic middle- and small-sized hospitals are facing a big hurdle: the high cost of introducing surgical robots. The cost incurred for 1 case of robotic surgery not only includes the cost of introducing equipment but also the cost of consumables (instruments) and maintenance, which sometimes poses a risk of deficit to hospitals. Particularly, robotic laparoscopic surgery is ineligible for healthcare benefits in the domestic medical market as well as several foreign medical markets, including Southeast Asia, Middle Asia, and the Middle East, leading to a limited demand by patients. If the number of cases of robotic surgery does not rise, even after introducing robotic surgery, this would cause difficulty in hospital management. A typical domestic example is a hospital located in Busan that only performed 30 cases of operation using a laparoscopic surgery robot but had to pay 200 million KRW solely for maintenance and ended up discontinuing the operation of its robotic surgery center.

In this surgical robot market, where high prices are typical, Revo-i offers competitive pricing. Specifically, Revo-i offers a comprehensively reasonable price, including the cost of consumables and maintenance, as well as the device price itself. Therefore, introducing Revo-i can help a hospital shorten the time to ROI (Return on Investment) compared to other surgical robot products.

In addition, "surgical solutions" come together with Revo-i when a hospital introduces it first, helping the hospital effectively manage the surgical robot. The company provides the Revo Care system to give online and offline training tailored to the different roles of operating surgeons, assistant surgeons, and nurses in robotic surgery and to focus on rapid and accurate maintenance service. Furthermore, the company has an open R&D system in place to constantly upgrade the surgical robot system with a timely reflection of user feedback, providing a user-driven platform.

"The core value of meerecompany Surgical Robot Division is to realize 'Better Care for More Patients.' In other words, our division's motto is to improve the quality of life for more patients with the surgical robot technology of Revo-i. To achieve this, we are actively accepting users' needs and feedback, and the entire staff is committed to providing a better surgery environment to realize actual medical benefits to hospitals and patients," said Joon Koo Kim, CEO.

He added, “We will try the best to promote continuous and wider use of Revo-i in hospitals specialized in specific surgeries, as well as domestic tertiary general hospitals. Going further, we will spread Revo-i to foreign markets where the laparoscopic surgery robot penetration rate is relatively low,” revealing his aspirations.

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