REVO

"meerecompany's surgical robot 'Revo-i' has already been proven in terms of its performance, price, patient accessibility, and consumable and maintenance costs. I believe it is fully ready to lead the global market,"

said Professor Jongsoo Lee, of Urology in Severance Hospital, who is actually performing robotic surgery using Revo-i, the surgical robot developed by meerecompany with purely domestic technologies. We met Professor Lee and asked about his experience in using Revo-i and how he thinks it should be developed in the future to be competitive in the global surgical robot market.

The first question to Professor Lee was about what led him to start robotic surgery using Revo-i. "I had already been performing robotic surgery and had interest in Revo-i in that it was domestically developed. I think it's partially because I've liked robots and machines," said Professor Lee.

Regarding the cause that led him to start robotic surgery with Revo-i, he particularly emphasized the fact that Revo-i is a domestic product.

“Revo-i is a domestic product, and I want to be helpful for its constant development and growth. Especially, I got confidence that I'd be able to actually use it after I observed a surgery in Uzbekistan so I started performing robotic surgery using Revo-i myself. I'm trying to make the most use of it as long as it is feasible," he said.

Professor Lee pointed that the benefit for a surgeon performing robotic surgery with Revo-i is that it is easy to learn the techniques because it has a similar mechanism of operation compared to the existing surgical robot (da Vinci). He also believes there is no surgery that cannot be performed with Revo-i in urology, a field involving many high-difficulty surgeries. He also expected that the number of surgery cases with Revo-i, which is 1200 at this point, will naturally rapidly increase as its sales grow.

"Quite a lot of surgeries using Revo-i have been performed in the past 2 years. As its sales keeps growing, the cases of surgery will be proportionally increasing, too," said Professor Lee.

Excellent patient accessibility in terms of cost-efficiency

He stressed that Revo-i could be a good option for patients who were not able to afford robotic surgery due to the cost.

"Revo-i can be offered for a price that is affordable to patients compared to competitive products, so its patient accessibility is even greater," said Professor Lee.

“Revo-i provides even more benefits in terms of the initial purchase cost as well as consumable and maintenance costs compared to competitive products. This consequently results in providing better treatment for patients while also considering the profits of institutions. In terms of institutional management, Revo-i will be highly competitive, especially in small and mid-size hospitals," he explained.

The benefit of Revo-i for an institution that Professor Lee specifically pointed was the low cost per surgery case that is naturally linked to an increase in hospital profitability. According to him, in large hospitals with a high volume of surgeries, there may be no issues. However, in small and mid-sized hospitals, high costs of consumables per surgery and maintenance expenses can lead to decreased profits and increased operational challenges.

It means the consumable and maintenance costs are more important issues than the initial purchase cost of a surgical robot because it needs to be continuously used for years.

We additionally asked about his plan on future cooperation with meerecompany and Severance Hospital, which had been working together since clinical trial. In this regard, Professor Lee emphasized the importance of a continuous cooperative relationship.

“meerecompany's rapid response helps us resolve and prevent any problems in operating Revo-i. They instantly give feedback to the medical staff's requests and try their best to reflect it in their product as fast as possible. All of these efforts will fuel development of Revo-i," he stressed.

Increased interest in Revo-i acknowledged in domestic and overseas symposiums

Professor Lee is endeavoring to raise awareness of the domestic surgical robot Revo-i and promote Korean robotic surgery techniques in many symposiums. In January, he spoke to global surgeons engaged in urology and drew attention to the clinical benefits and current usage status of Revo-i by giving a presentation on partial nephrectomy using Revo-i at the Celebration Symposium of 40,000 Robotic Surgeries at Severance Hospital-Joint Symposium by the Urological Research Society. Additionally, he shared his insights at the UROtech24 Conference held in Vienna, Austria, Europe.

We asked how he felt about his presentation in the UROtech24. "Europe is showing more interest in Revo-i than the U.S. Some countries in Europe are wealthy, but others are not, so there are even some countries that have yet introduced any surgical robots. Since our country is well known for many Number One companies in many fields such as cars, semiconductors, etc., Europe has high expectations from this Korean surgical robot, Revo-i. I think they will be ready to put their trust in this product," he said.

He further emphasized the importance of "active marketing" for Revo-i to take an advantageous position among the competition as new surgical robots have been developed lately.

At the time of this interview, Professor Lee had a presentation on Revo-i ahead in US, the birthplace of robotic surgery. The presentation was to be provided in the NARUS (North American Robotic Urology Symposium) held from 22nd to 24th February.

“US is the country where robotic surgery has begun and I'm so glad that I'm honored to introduce our Korean surgical robot, Revo-i, to that country. This presentation will be a great opportunity to actively promote Revo-i to South American countries and others,” said Professor Lee in this regard.

"I'm planning to actively emphasize that Revo-i can even be used for high-difficulty surgeries. I'll make it known that there is a new option called Revo-i, a Korean surgical robot, other than da Vinci," he added.

Best option for the surgical robot in terms of consumable and maintenance costs

Professor Lee said he wants to analyze Revo-i in comparison with competitive products in terms of strengths and weaknesses, adding “There has been not a great volume of surgery cases using Revo-i so far. After more surgery cases have been accumulated, such research efforts will become feasible. I want to try a prospective study."

He also did not forget to give advice to medical institutions that are currently considering introduction of a surgical robot.

“The most important thing in introducing a surgical robot is the cost. The safety of Revo-i has already been proven based on more than 1200 cases of surgery performed so far. Institutions that are considering the introduction of a surgical robot should carefully review the consumable and maintenance costs, the price of the surgical robot system itself, and whether it would be actually beneficial for hospital operation before making the decision," he advised.

He also pointed out that supply expansion of Revo-i should be sped up.

“It's important to speed up the supply expansion of Revo-i because more surgical robot brands are emerging today. For example, Severance Hospital has only one Revo-i unit, and I think at least two units are needed to encourage medical staff to use it," he said.

"Revo-i is the new possibility that is proven in every aspect"

Lastly, Professor Lee emphasized that "performance and price" are the most important factors for Revo-i to firmly establish its position in the global surgical robot market. "It'll become easier with more active marketing," he said.

Professor Lee said it is important to put the benefits, usability, and price of Revo-i forward. He said "Revo-i is an innovative challenge that makes him want to cooperate and achieve good results," and shared his expectations that "it will become a domestic surgical robot that Korean medical professionals can be proud of."

In answer to our question about what Revo-i means to him, he expressed his trust in Revo-i, saying “It is the new possibility that is proven in every aspect. It's already sufficiently competitive in the global market such as South East Asia, the Middle East, Central Asia, and South America. Now it's ready to lead the world market."

Korean article : https://www.whosaeng.com/150466