Shanghai, China - As of June 26, Honghu¹ Orthopedic Surgical Robot (hereinafter referred to as “Honghu Robot”) and “MicroPort® Toumai™ laparoscopic surgical robot (hereinafter referred to as “Toumai™ Robot”) developed by MicroPort NaviBot (Suzhou) Co., Ltd (hereinafter referred to as “Port® NaviBot® (Suzhou)”), a holding subsidiary of Shanghai MicroPort MedBot (Group) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “MicroPort® MedBot®”) achieved new breakthrough in surgical volume. Toumai™ Robot completed 1000 assisted clinical validation; Honghu Robot have completed more than 500 robot-assisted clinical validation surgeries in orthopedics, joint surgery and sports medicine departments of 40 hospitals in 16 provinces across the country, showing a highly stable auxiliary role.

This indicates that Honghu Robots have been more mature in clinical application and fully adapting to and meeting the clinical requirements of orthopedic applications. Therefore, they have been accepted and recognized by more clinical medical personnel, and are capable of providing assistance for major hospitals in carrying out clinical practice and theoretical research.

As the only Chinese-developed orthopedic robot that has been certified and approved for marketing by NMPA, FDA, CE and ANVISA, Honghu is featured by precise operation, efficient synergy, strong protection and compatibility.

Before the surgery, the Honghu planning system can help the surgeon develop a personalized plan for prosthetic implantation based on the patient's pre-procedure CT scan data and prosthetic model data. During the surgery, Honghu can use registration technology combined with the self-developed, highly dexterous and lightweight robotic arm based on the precise positioning of surgical planning, to quickly complete an osteotomy, improving the surgical accuracy and efficiency. By eliminating the need of medullary cavity positioning in traditional surgery and intraoperative implantation of intramedullary rods, it reduces surgical damage, bleeding and complications, improve postoperative lower limb alignment, helping patients achieve rapid postoperative recovery.

Based on these advantages, Honghu Robots assist clinical experts in constantly challenging difficult surgical techniques, achieving breakthrough one after another, demonstrating high clinical application value, and effectively helping the accelerated achievement of national strategy of replacement of imported high-end medical devices by Chinese-developed ones”.

Honghu has completed more than 500 clinical verification surgeries, including many first and difficult robotic-assisted surgeries, such as the first Chinese-developed surgical robot 5G-based remote joint replacement, joint replacement after intramedullary nail fixation for femoral shaft fracture, and joint replacement surgery for severe rheumatoid arthritis.

On September 17, 2021, Honghu Orthopedic Surgical Robot successfully completed the first 5G remote joint replacement surgery by a Chinese developed surgical robot. The surgery was performed by Professor Huiwu Li’s team from the Department of Orthopedics of the Ninth People’s Hospital of Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine in the headquarter of MicroPort® MedBot® by connecting with Professor Chuan Li’s team from the Department of Orthopedics of 920 Hospital and Professor Haobo Zhong’s team from the Department of Orthopedics of the First People’s Hospital of Huizhou, Guangdong Province through the 5G interconnection platform, marking the MicroPort® Medical Robots have set a new milestone in intelligent surgical applications, continuously sinking high-quality medical resources and enabling technology to better serve patients.

On January 17, 2022, the First People’s Hospital of Dali successfully completed the first total knee replacement of MicroPort® MedBot® assisted TKA multi-center study in Yunnan Province. Professor Jiyuan Zhang’s team and Professor Chuan Li performed the robot-assisted total knee arthroplasty for a 53-year-old women with severe rheumatoid arthritis. Successful completion of difficult surgery expands the clinical surgical procedures of Honghu, and greatly enhances the confidence of surgeons in Chinese-developed orthopedic surgical robots.

Honghu’s First Tour Activity in Frontier Provinces - “Yunnan Tour”

From January 17 to March 14, 2022, Honghu made a tour to Yunnan Province. During the event, from Dali to Chuxiong and Kunming in the middle, Zhaotong and Diqing in the north, Pu’er and Honghe in the south, Qujing in the east and Nujiang in the west, 14 hospitals in 9 prefecture-level cities were involved, and nearly 30 local surgeons were trained to master the operation method of Honghu robot-assisted clinical surgery. In consequence, Honghu robot-assisted knee arthroplasty was completed for local 50 patients. Honghu’s Yunnan Tour aims to fulfill the social responsibility of Chinese-developed medical device companies, help surgeons better fulfill their duty of treating diseases and saving lives, and also promote patients to get rid of disease troubles and return to live a healthy life as soon as possible.

First Honghu Assisted Joint Replacement Ambulatory Surgery Completed

In December, 2022, Professor Li Sun, chief physician of Guizhou Provincial People’s Hospital led the team to complete surgical robot-assisted artificial TKA minimally invasive surgery for two patients. One 65-year-old patient was determined to perform ambulatory surgery through evaluation. Ambulatory surgery, also called day surgery, refers to a surgical mode in which patients can complete admission, surgery and discharge within a working day without hospitalization, with less trauma, reduced infection opportunities and treatment costs. After the surgery, the patient didn’t feel any pain, and was able to stand and wash in the next morning. Upon evaluation, the patient met the discharge criteria and was discharged smoothly in the next afternoon. The successful completion of the first TKA ambulatory surgery assisted by Honghu Orthopedic Surgical Robot signifies that Honghu has gained more clinical experience, and is a strong proof that the MicroPort^® MedBot^® helps expand the high-quality medical resources to the remote region.

The First Honghu Robot-assisted Unicondylar Knee Arthroplasty (UKA) Successfully Completed

In February 2023, Professor Yongqing Xu’s team from the Department of Orthopedics of 920th Hospital successfully completed the first robot-assisted unicondylar knee arthroplasty. This is the first robot-assisted UKA completed by 920th Hospital, marking that Honghu has entered the clinical trial stage in the field of UKA, and will provide more accurate and intelligent robotic smart medical solutions for knee arthritis patients in the future.

Cure for Severe Deformities! Another Successful TKA Assisted by Honghu

In February 2023, Yongyun Lian, chief physician of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery of the Fourth Hospital of Harbin Medical University, led the team to successfully complete a difficult surgery. The patient was a special case with severe deformity of the femur and tibia , and extra-articular deformity of the femur accompanied by rotational deformities and bone defects. Traditional surgical methods could not accurately complete the positioning and osteotomy, and the surgical difficulty was quite high even for surgeons with extensive surgical experience. However, Director Yongyun Lian's team successfully completed the surgery under the precise guidance of the personalized surgical plan and navigation & positioning function of the Honghu Orthopedic Surgical Robot. This not only shows the excellent surgical ability of Director Yongyun Lian's team, but also displays the compatible clinical configuration of Honghu.

Honghu Completed the Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA) for Internal Fixation after Severe Fracture

On March 21, 2023, Honghu Orthopedic Surgical Robot appeared in the surgery live month held by the Orthopedic Medical Department of 301 Hospital and successfully completed a complex and difficult TKA, which was performed by Director Haifeng Li, a member of the team of Director Wei Chai of 301 Hospital. Relying on the strong, stable planning, navigation and registration ability of Honghu Robot and the surgeon's accurate, efficient surgical judgment and operation ability, the osteotomy was accurately carried out and the prosthetic installation was completed. The risk and complexity of this surgery was very high, and the Honghu Orthopedic Surgical Robot rose to the challenge, broke through the siege, and successfully overcame the challenge, which is a strong proof that the domestic self-developed surgical robot is a pioneer and showed the robot's technical strength is not second to overseas competitors.

Honghu Completed the Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA) for Internal Fixation after Severe Fracture

On May 4, 2023, Professor Huang Wei, Director of Orthopedics Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University (the First Affiliated Hospital of CMU), and his surgical team successfully completed the first Chinese-developed robot-assisted artificial joint replacement surgery for Silang Dengzhu in Eastern Tibet at the People's Hospital of Chamdo in the Tibet Autonomous Region using MicroPort® Honghu Orthopedic Surgical Robot (MicroPort® Honghu). It was also the first 5G-based remote Chinese-developed robot-assisted total knee replacement surgery in Tibet.

In its international expansion, Honghu Robot has been successfully used in dozens of total knee replacement surgeries at U.S. hospitals, including Lighthouse Surgical Hospital in New Hampshire, USA since November 2022, which marks the gradual maturity of Honghu Robots in clinical application to provide surgeons and patients worldwide with higher quality, more reliable and comprehensive robot surgical solutions.

Honghu Successfully Completed the First Robot-assisted TKA in US

On November 22, 2022, Honghu assisted surgeon Joseph Kavolus in complete this surgery in the Hollis Lighthouse surgical hospital, New Hampshire, and the hospital is also the first one who completed the installation and trial in the US. The surgery is the first TKA successfully implemented in the US after Honghu Orthopedic Surgical Robot was approved by FDA, which is an important milestone for MicroPort MedBot Group. Honghu Total Knee System from MicroPort® MedBot®, and Evolution® Inner Axis Knee system from MicroPort® Orthopedics were used together for the first time in the United States. The former provides surgeons with the possibility of customizing patient surgical plans in a virtual environmental before surgery and accurately executing them during surgery; while Evolution® internal axis knee system replicates the natural stability and motion of the knee joints, providing functional recovery design and an innovative solution for surgeons to address issues such as postoperative knee instability, anterior knee pain and functional limitations.

The successful completion of 500 clinical verification surgeries fully proves that Honghu is competent for difficult clinical work, enabling surgeons “hands” (robotic arms), “eyes” (navigation) and “brain” (intelligent planning) in a digital way. Due to its simple operation, short learning curve and other advantages, Honghu robots can effectively solve the clinical pain points in traditional surgeries that rely too much on the experience of the operators and cannot achieve standardized and repeatable operations.

Meanwhile, MicroPort® MedBot® team provides professional and efficient one-stop services including clinical education and training, customer service and clinical support, as well as innovative robot surgery teaching demonstration models through 5G interconnection platforms, to comprehensively promote the popularization of high-quality medical resources and the expansion of robot surgery training resources. While benefiting more patients, we can continuously help hospitals at all levels improve surgical efficiency and ward turnover, and enhance the level and service value of robot medical care in hospitals.

Dr. Chao He, president of MicroPort® MedBot® Group indicated that such difficult surgeries have verified that Chinese-developed Honghu Orthopedic Surgical Robot can meet diverse clinical requirements and boast the technical strength to assist medical personnel in completing complex surgeries, thus becoming the “super assistant” of clinical experts. Meanwhile, the continuous implementation of 5G remote surgeries verifies the performance of Honghu Robots, and demonstrates the confidence and determination of MicroPort® MedBot® Group to cooperate with medical institutions for promoting the expansion to high-end medical resources to remote regions, bringing patients with high-end and accessible treatment and diagnosis service experience and intelligent surgery solutions, and achieving the original intention of “Make Surgery Easier, Safer and Less Invasive”.

1 The registered trademark of HongHu is named “Skywalker” in abroad , which is in the process of application in USA, completed registration in EU and other countries and regions.