Due to higher capital expenditures, the medical robotics industry was more vulnerable to economic headwinds in 2022 than producers of less expensive devices. However, as underlying demand is still very strong, the robotics business will keep growing through 2030. Against the backdrop, the surgical robotics market is set to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8% from $8.6 billion in 2022 to $15.8 billion in 2030, forecasts GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
GlobalData’s report, “Robotics in Medical Devices – Thematic Intelligence,” reveals that every segment of the medical robotics market to grow over the next decade, driven by the demand for high-volume procedures.
Tina Deng, MSc, Principal Medical Devices Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “GlobalData expects every segment of the medical robotics market to grow over the next decade, driven by the demands of high-volume procedures. Healthcare providers will increasingly invest in medical robots to compensate for staff shortages and improve the standard of care.
“Surgical robots improve patient outcomes, reduce human error, and decrease the length of hospital stays. The use of cloud computing and AI enables medical robots to collaborate and access huge amounts of data uninterruptedly. New surgical robot models will offer new surgical possibilities, such as micro-robots to address difficult-to-treat diseases.”
Signals such as M&A activities indicate that the medical robotic market is growing strongly after the dip in 2022. For example, there were 60 robotics-related deals by medical companies in the last six months, after a decline in the annual number of medical robotics-related M&A transactions from 17 in 2019 to 13 in 2022, mirroring the unfavorable macroeconomic environment.
Robotics saw a decline in deal value of $196.6 million between 2020 and 2022, but the segment is expected to recover in 2023. The merger of Globus Medical and NuVasive and the acquisition of Spectrum Plastics Group drove the total deal value to more than $5.5 billion this year so far.
Deng concludes: “There are three main areas driving robotics M&A activity in the medical industry: orthopedics, minimally invasive surgery, and imaging systems. Notably, leading device companies like Depuy Synthes, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, and GE HealthCare continuously invest in new technology and products to strengthen their robotics portfolios.”
