Harel Gadot, CEO and Chairman of Microbot Medical MBOT, was recently a guest on Benzinga's All-Access.
Microbot is a pre-commercial stage medical technology company that has developed the world's first single-use, fully disposable endovascular robotic system. Microbot is committed to eliminating traditional barriers to access to advanced robotic systems.
Mr. Gadot spoke of the immense potential his company's LIBERTY System has to change the way endovascular surgery is performed and ultimately change outcomes.
Microbot is a pre-commercial stage medical technology company that has developed the world's first single-use, fully disposable endovascular robotic system. Microbot is committed to eliminating traditional barriers to access to advanced robotic systems.
Mr. Gadot spoke of the immense potential his company's LIBERTY System has to change the way endovascular surgery is performed and ultimately change outcomes.
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NewsTranscript
00:00And it is my pleasure to welcome in the CEO and Chairman of Microbot Medical, it's Harel Gadot.
00:10Great to be with you today.
00:11Thank you, Dan.
00:12It's great to be here as well.
00:14Very excited to be here, especially after the exciting news this morning that we have
00:18submitted to the FDA for commercialization of the Liberty Endovascular Surgical System.
00:23Yeah, very, very big news.
00:24We'll get into all of that.
00:25I just wanted you to give an overview of Microbot for those people out there that might not
00:29be familiar.
00:30Sure.
00:31It's my pleasure.
00:33If we look into where we're playing, we're playing into the robotic surgery in general
00:38and specifically in the endovascular space within the healthcare.
00:43If we look in general into robotic surgery, it is one of the fastest growing trends in
00:48healthcare.
00:49For example, if you look at the penetration rate of robotic surgery in general surgery,
00:54it went from about 1.8% in 2012 to more than 17% currently with a CAGR of 15%.
01:03This is in a market that includes elective surgeries such as hernia repair.
01:08When you consider the endovascular space, it accounts for more than 6 million endovascular
01:13procedures which reform annually in the US alone.
01:18Most of them are life-saving treatments, which include cancer, for example, stroke, and vascular
01:24blockage.
01:25Moreover, some of these procedures are time-sensitive.
01:28There is a phrase in the medical community saying, time is brain, which refers to the
01:32very narrow window of opportunity that a patient suffering from stroke, for example, has until
01:38he or she gets treated before suffering an unreversible brain damage.
01:43This procedure was historically done surgically.
01:46Think about, for example, when your fix is clogged.
01:50In the past, you'll break the wall in order to fix the sink, where today, you can go through
01:56the pipes to get to the sink and unclog it.
01:59Just instead of the snake your plumber uses, physicians use delicate tools called guidewires
02:04and microcatheters to build a railroad from outside the body to treat the site inside
02:11the body.
02:12This market also has clear unmet needs.
02:15That's where we're coming in and really changing the game.
02:21Those unmet needs include radiation exposure, physical strain on the operators, shortage
02:25of skilled providers, and accessibility to local medical centers.
02:29Think about the stroke person that now needs to travel 60, 100 miles, where time is brain.
02:36We believe that many of these challenges can be solved by robotic technologies, yet there
02:40are no robotic solutions in the endovascular space in the US.
02:47Therefore, we believe that introducing the right robotic technology to endovascular procedures
02:53can address many of those unmet needs and add value, such as improving efficiencies,
02:58reducing risk of radiation exposure for both the physician and the staff, and increase
03:03access to quality health care for all patients.
03:06Now, it really is incredible, and you mentioned the jump over the number of how many more
03:09people are getting that kind of surgery.
03:11It's unbelievable, and I know that that's obviously very exciting for what you guys
03:14are doing.
03:15But talk about that Liberty system, as you mentioned.
03:17What makes it so unique?
03:20So as they say, a picture worth 1,000 words, right?
03:23So this is Liberty.
03:25That's it.
03:26It's a robotic system that fits in the palm of my hand, but Liberty is much more than
03:32just a small robotic system.
03:35It is the world's first fully disposable robotic system.
03:38By comparison, if we look at it, conventional robotic system that are pretty much, I can
03:43describe them as an F-150 truck.
03:46If you go into the OR, that's what you will see there, right?
03:49They require a large capital equipment system that usually costs somewhere between $1 to
03:55$2 million.
03:56This is upfront, just to buy the robot.
03:58This is before you even tried it and see that it adds value to your specific patient population.
04:06Then on top of the capital expense, many of those robotic system will require additional
04:11investment in customized infrastructure.
04:14It's always amazing me when I walk into the OR and I see this robotic system, but then
04:18I see all the walls that were moved around, all the IT infrastructure.
04:23It probably costs you the same for the infrastructure as buying the robot.
04:28On top of that, you have to buy procedural kits, service, and maintenance.
04:34With Liberty, the hospital avoids all of these major costs, which we expect will significantly
04:41reduce the cell cycle, allow more medical centers to adapt robotic in their endovascular
04:46practice, and in return, enable access to improved care for more patients.
04:51In addition, Liberty allows physician to steer those guide wires and catheters.
04:56If you remember, the snake, the plumber are using.
04:59Those very delicate guide wires and catheters now can be used by a remote control, which
05:07enables precise control of the guide wires and catheters, which are required in almost
05:13every endovascular procedure while operating at a safer distance away from the X-ray radiation
05:18source and improve ergonomics for the physicians.
05:21It is amazing to see how many physicians cannot operate because they have a herniated disc,
05:27for example.
05:28I would say it really does give you Liberty in the greatest sense.
05:32Raul, I wanted to ask you, why is medical robotics and specifically the endovascular
05:37segment an attractive market right now?
05:42We see all the big players playing in the space of robotics, J&J, Medtronic, Stryker,
05:47and the list goes on and on.
05:48First of all, it is exciting to see that almost every strategic recognizes robotics as part
05:54of their current and future offering.
05:56In a way, it is a kosher stamp of the directions the market is taking when it comes to robotics.
06:02However, we really need to consider that the large strategics lack the core capabilities
06:08to innovate in robotics.
06:10They were not structured from the beginning as a robotic company.
06:14If you look historically, you look at Medtronic buying Mazor, you look at Stryker buying Meco,
06:21and the main reason is to get into the robotic space by acquiring the core capabilities,
06:28not just the technology.
06:31That's what they do to get the capabilities, expand their portfolio.
06:34We believe that with our first mover advantage into the peripheral space in the endovascular
06:39space, which is right now, it's a completely blue ocean.
06:43There are no players playing in that space, so it's pretty much ripe to pick up by somebody.
06:49We will establish the required core capabilities and the market presence, and strategically,
06:54as we move forward in the future, expand into the other indications, such as the neuro and
07:00cardiac endovascular procedures.
07:02Yeah, listen, you mentioned some of those large companies like Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic,
07:07GE, Stryker, looking to enter the surgical robotics market.
07:10How do you see Microbot truly fitting in there?
07:15Our objective is to own the space that right now, as I mentioned, it's completely blue
07:19ocean.
07:21By doing this, we're not only going to change the endovascular space.
07:26Think about the business model that we're changing.
07:29If today, people are saying, my model is the razor and razor blade, we're actually only
07:34selling the blades.
07:35We don't have the barrier of adoption that now you go and spend money on the razor itself.
07:44Also, as we move forward, and we look into the process in the hospital, how do we fit
07:50in?
07:51Our objective is to start with a peripheral intervention in endovascular, own that space,
07:56and as we move into the following years, move into the cardiac and into the neuro.
08:02This is a really exciting time for the company, as we are transitioning right now from a clinical
08:06and regulatory-focused company into a commercial-focused company.
08:11With the news that we issued today about the submission of the 510K for the future
08:15commercialization of the Liberty system, for me personally, it's very exciting to see an
08:20idea that we brought from just inception all the way to the potential to treat more patients
08:27in the future.
08:28A couple of months ago, we successfully completed our pivotal human clinical trial, which coupled
08:35with other tests and studies allowed us to file the 510K.
08:39We will work closely with the FDA.
08:41Usually a 510K process takes somewhere between four to six months.
08:45We expect to launch Liberty post the FDA clearance, which we expect in Q2 2025.
08:53We also anticipate sharing the data from our pivotal human clinical trial in one or two
08:58of the major conferences in 2025, such as SIR, Society of Interventional Radiology,
09:05or Society of Interventional Oncology.
09:08In parallel, we are currently establishing our commercial team to prepare for the launch
09:13with the aim to launch in the U.S. immediately the FDA clearance.
09:18We are also working with what they call the MDR in Europe.
09:22We already received our ISO approval or clearance.
09:27Moving with the MDR process, we expect to also get the CMR approval going into 2026.
09:33As you mentioned, very exciting times for Microbot Medical right now.
09:38You mentioned a bunch of things that are going to be planned for the next several months
09:42when you kind of spin things forward.
09:44What's kind of the feeling of the future that you want to see for Microbot Medical?
09:49So first thing first is being successful with the submission to the FDA.
09:53Obviously, we announced the successful completion of the clinical study, which gave us a lot
09:58of comfort that we're providing something which is safe and going to benefit many patients
10:03moving forward.
10:04Next thing I would like to see is really the adoption of the market, showing the value
10:10added we bring to the table, not only for the physicians, the technologists, but to
10:17every stakeholder.
10:18And that's going to be a success.
10:19If we can really allow access to patients that right now, I live in Boston.
10:26Before that, I lived in New York City.
10:28So God forbid something happened to me, I have five minutes drive to get to the best
10:32health care I can get in the world.
10:34But what happened if I'm traveling to mid-America, people saying South America, Far East, I'm
10:40just saying even middle America, you get a stroke, you have a very window of opportunity
10:44to get treated.
10:45You have cancer, you don't want to drive 100 miles every time to get treated.
10:50Think about it.
10:51If we can really change the landscape and have accessibility to a technology that improve
10:57care, that's what excites us.
11:00That's where we see us moving in those steps of the clearance, getting adoption in the
11:04market and eventually changing the way robotic systems in general are being adopted in the
11:12market.
11:13You're getting me really excited as well.
11:14And it looks like the future very bright for you, of course, at Microbot Medical.
11:18It was an absolute pleasure talking with you today, Aurel.
11:20Thank you so much for your time.