J&J to acquire Verily stake in Verb Surgical

Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has announced its plan to acquire the remaining stake in Verb Surgical, its robotics venture with Alphabet-owned Verily.

Verb Surgical was formed in 2015 by J&J and Verily, Alphabet’s life science division, to focus on robotic-assisted systems for surgery.

Ashley McEvoy, worldwide chairman, medical devices, at J&J, said: “We have reached this important milestone thanks to the progress the Verb Surgical team has made with their digital surgery platform and the strong collaboration with Verily, Ethicon [a J&J subsidiary], and the clinicians around the world who shared their passion, deep insights and clinical expertise.”

Announced on Friday, December 20, the deal will see J&J buy Verily’s share in the company and is expected to close in the first half of 2020.

On the latest acquisition, Andrew Conrad, CEO of Verily, added: “With Verb Surgical, we set out with an ambitious mission to successfully harmonise the talent and expertise of two pioneers to design a platform with the potential to transform surgery. This evolution in the collaboration recognises the significant achievement toward that mission and I’m excited for the future of this technology in J&J’s hands.”

J&J boosted its expertise in digital surgery earlier this year with the acquisition of Auris Health in a $3.4 billion deal.

The company said that the acquisition of Auris Health, which is currently focused on lung cancer, was founded in 2007 by Frederic Moll, would accelerate the company’s entry into robotics and kick off a pipeline of launches that will take place over the next several years.

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