Dive Brief:
- Vicarious Surgical Chief Operating Officer John Mazzola will retire effective April 1, the robot developer said Tuesday.
- The announcement follows the recent departure of CFO William Kelly, who left the company last month to pursue other opportunities.
- Vicarious President Randy Clark will assume Mazzola’s duties upon the COO’s retirement, the company said.
Dive Insight:
Mazzola joined Vicarious as senior vice president of operations in March 2022 after 35 years in the medical device industry, and was promoted to COO in May 2023.
CEO Adam Sachs credited Mazzola with developing and streamlining the company’s manufacturing processes, strengthening its supply chain and improving product quality control.
“As a result, Vicarious Surgical is well-positioned for its next chapter as we prepare for our upcoming first clinical use cases and pivotal trial,” Sachs, who co-founded Vicarious, said in a statement. “We are deeply grateful for his contributions and wish him a happy and fulfilling retirement.”
Vicarious, which has received financing from Bill Gates and a list of other technology investors over the past decade, is one of dozens of surgical robot developers working to bring alternative systems to market to challenge leader Intuitive Surgical.
However, Vicarious has pushed back the clinical trial timeline for its single-port robot, telling investors in November that it is now working toward conducting its first patient case ahead of a pivotal study focused on an initial indication for ventral hernia repair.
The company reported a third-quarter net loss of $17.1 million, compared with a net loss of $15.7 million in the same period a year ago.
As Vicarious continues to develop its system, Intuitive challenger Medtronic is moving closer to a U.S. market launch with its Hugo soft tissue platform, and other robot developers have entered the market. Medtronic on Tuesday said it plans to file for market authorization with the Food and Drug Administration for Hugo by the end of March, putting the company on track for a U.S. launch in its fiscal year 2026, which begins in late April.
Meanwhile, CMR Surgical announced Wednesday that its Versius robot has been used in more than 30,000 surgical cases globally.
