Latest / Best of Business / Deborah Lambie: Milford Asset Management analyst on the rising popularity of robotic-assisted surgery

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Deborah Lambie: Milford Asset Management analyst on the rising popularity of robotic-assisted surgery · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talks. There'd be
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  Speaker 2: A robotic assisted surgery is on the rise around the world.
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  Speaker 2: We've talked about before about the soft tissue robots and
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  Speaker 2: so on. Is another type of surgery that is benefiting
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  Speaker 2: from the use of robotics is now orthopedic surgery. So
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  Speaker 2: you want to think about your hip replacements here and
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  Speaker 2: Deborah Lamby from milfed Asset Management is with us. Now, Hey, Deborah, Hi,
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  Speaker 2: how are you well? Thank you? So why are orthopedic
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  Speaker 2: robots becoming increasingly important in healthcare?
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  Speaker 3: So Orthopedic robots are particularly useful and joint replacements, and
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  Speaker 3: these are on the rise due to aging populations that
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  Speaker 3: we're seeing around the world. And so in fact, the
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  Speaker 3: number of total new replacement surgeries globally is expected to
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  Speaker 3: grow significantly by around six percent per year over the
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  Speaker 3: next decade. And because of this, innovations that make surgeons
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  Speaker 3: more efficient and also improved patient outcomes are becoming increasingly important.
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  Speaker 2: And who are the main players here?
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  Speaker 3: So Orthopedic robots have been around since the early two thousands,
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  Speaker 3: and Striker is the first company to bring its robotic system,
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  Speaker 3: which is called Maco, to market, followed by zimmer Biomet
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  Speaker 3: a number of years later in twenty nineteen with their
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  Speaker 3: robot which is called Rosa. And while there are some
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  Speaker 3: differences between their robots, broadly, before surgery, they work as
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  Speaker 3: tools to assist surgeons with preoperative planning by creating detailed
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  Speaker 3: three dimensional images of the patient's anatomy, and during surgery
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  Speaker 3: they assist with precision by providing real time feedback and
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  Speaker 3: using sensors to guide the surgeons instruments. And they also
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  Speaker 3: assist with precise placement of implants, which is really important.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, this seems like pretty obvious benefits. Are
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  Speaker 2: there other benefits as well of using it?
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  Speaker 3: Also, studies have actually shown that robotic assisted all the
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  Speaker 3: pedic surgeries often lead to improve patient outcomes, and so
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  Speaker 3: that includes better alignment of the implant, so for example,
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  Speaker 3: the artificial knee joint is aligned better with the bones
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  Speaker 3: on each side of the artificial joint. Interestingly, reduced post
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  Speaker 3: operative pain for patients because cuts can be smaller and
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  Speaker 3: more precise, and then all so patients actually recover faster
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  Speaker 3: from them. So kind of in summary, they make sure
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  Speaker 3: that the implants are positioned with maximum accuracy, which leads
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  Speaker 3: to better patient recovery, better long lasting results, and pure
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  Speaker 3: complications for patients.
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  Speaker 2: Fascinating how commonly these used around the world and do
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  Speaker 2: we also have them here in New Zealand.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. So, globally, Rosa and Maco robots have assisted in
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  Speaker 3: well over a million joint replacement surgeries combined, which sounds
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  Speaker 3: like a really big number, but if you look at
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  Speaker 3: the total proportion of knee and hip replacements that are
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  Speaker 3: done using robotics, that's actually still quite low, so around
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  Speaker 3: seven percent for hips and fifteen percent for these done
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  Speaker 3: with robotic assistance. But that is forcus to increase rapidly,
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  Speaker 3: So by twenty thirty it's expected that around twenty percent
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  Speaker 3: of knee replacements globally will be robotic assisted and almost
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  Speaker 3: thirty percent of hip replacement, So significant growth opportunity ahead.
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  Speaker 3: And while having a robot assist in your orthopedic surgery
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  Speaker 3: does sound very futuristic, we absolutely do already have them
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  Speaker 3: here in New Zealand. So in twenty seventeen, the first
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  Speaker 3: robotic assisted knee replacement surgery was done in north Shore Hospital,
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  Speaker 3: so here in Auckland with Strikers, Maco Robot and since
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  Speaker 3: then we've seen robots placed and actually a number of
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  Speaker 3: different hospitals across the country.
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  Speaker 2: That's fascinating stuff. So how the shares of these companies
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  Speaker 2: performing then.
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  Speaker 3: And so this is interesting because there's quite marked divergence.
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  Speaker 3: So Shares and Striker this year, for example, have done
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  Speaker 3: really well, so they've generated thirty percent return for investors,
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  Speaker 3: whereas shares and Zimmer are actually down around ten percent
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  Speaker 3: this year on the back of issues with production, delayed
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  Speaker 3: shipments and market share loss to strike It. And then
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  Speaker 3: if you zoom out over the past decade, Striker has
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  Speaker 3: outperformed the S and P five hundred and generated a
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  Speaker 3: return of around sixteen percent, so ahead of the S
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  Speaker 3: and P five hundreds return of around twelve where as Zimmer,
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  Speaker 3: on the other hand, has been a massive underperformer. It's
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  Speaker 3: gone through a period of mismanagement, it's struggled to compete
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  Speaker 3: with Striker for market share, and if you look back
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  Speaker 3: to twenty fifteen, basically Zimmer's shares if you'd owned them
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  Speaker 3: from then till now, have generated no return for investors.
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  Speaker 3: So even though it's a company in a really interesting
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  Speaker 3: space that has actually translated to attractive shareholders returns. So
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  Speaker 3: it just shows how important it is for investors to
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  Speaker 3: be really discerning with their investments.
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  Speaker 2: Interesting, isn't it. Deborah, thanks very much, really appreciated that.
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  Speaker 2: It's Deborahlambie Milford Asset Management.
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