Ron Tavlin allegedly informed a friend about Medtronic’s impending acquisition announcement of Mazor Robotics in 2018.

Medtronic, which has made no secret of its surgical robotics ambitions, partnered with visualization company Karl Storz SE & Co. as it works on its own robot-assisted surgery platform.

Orthopedic device companies have been actively developing products for surgical robotics, several through acquisitions.

Medtronic has closed the $1.7 billion acquisition of Mazor Robotics and its robot-assisted surgery platform. Medtronic capped the buyout with the announcement that its first jointly produced product won an FDA nod. Last month Caesarea, Israel-based Mazor said its shareholders voted to approve the $58.50-per-ADR-share deal with the world’s largest medical device maker, which has…

Medtronic has owned since 2016 a $300 million stake (about 11%) in Mazor, which is widely regarded as a leader in robot-assisted spine surgery. By 2022, the global spinal surgical robotics market is expected to reach $2.77 billion. Mazor makes the Mazor X guidance system and the Renaissance robot-assisted spine surgery platform. Medtronic became the…

Robotic-guided spinal surgeries reduce both complications and the number of revision surgeries needed, according to a new report released today by Mazor Robotics (NSDQ:MZOR). The study shows that spinal surgeries performed using the company’s guidance system had a five-fold reduction in surgical complications. Such technology also contributed to a seven-fold reduction in revision surgeries versus…