TransEnterix changes name to Asensus Surgical

TransEnterix changed its name to Asensus Surgical and introduced a new category of surgery to its offerings. Research Triangle Park, N.C.-based Asensus Surgical said the name change represents its broader vision of shaping the future of surgery by integrating computer vision and machine learning with surgical robotics.

Sensus is Latin for “cognition,” highlighting the connection between surgeons’ knowledge and the augmented intelligence technology, the company said. Including “A” ahead of “sensus” is a hat-tip to augmented intelligence, while “Asensus” also represents “ascending” and elevating” as a tribute to the company’s efforts to elevate robotic surgery.

As a result of the name change, which is effective today, Asensus stock will begin trading under the ASXC ticker on the New York Stock Exchange at the open of trading on March 5, 2021.

“As we work to create the future of surgery we need to enable surgeons to take the best surgical practices and techniques from everywhere and enable them to be leveraged anywhere; this is what digital technology has enabled us to do,” Asensus president & CEO Anthony Fernando said in the release. “As the company evolves from a robotics company to a digital surgery company, the rebrand better reflects our vision and we know that Asensus has the technology, the team, and the opportunity to create a new paradigm in best surgical practices and techniques we call performance-guided surgery.”

Asensus will continue to develop the Senhance surgical system, which it touts as the first-of-its-kind digital laparoscopic platform that leverages augmented intelligence to provide strong performance and positive patient outcomes through machine learning.

Senhance will be central to Asensus’ drive to introduce what it sees as a new era of performance-guided surgery, as the company focuses on digitizing the interface between the surgeon and the patient to unlock clinical intelligence that may enable superior outcomes and potentially a new standard of surgery.

Asensus received CE Mark approval for its Intelligent Surgical Unit for the Senhance system. The Intelligent Surgical Unit (ISU) enables machine vision capabilities on the Senhance surgical system, providing digital laparoscopic programs in Europe to be augmented by intelligence capabilities in surgical settings. The FDA cleared the ISU in March 2020.