Johnson & Johnson ponders surgical robotics acquisition

Healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson is pursuing an acquisition of surgical robotics specialist Auris Health, according to reports on Wednesday.

No final deal has been reached and a sale is not definite but J&J will look to purchase the robotics company at a premium to the valuation its latest funding round, which is understood to have valued the company at around $2bn, according to sources cited by Bloomberg.

Auris counts Lux Capital, Viking Global Investors and billionaire Peter Thiel’s Mithril Capital Management among its backers and has developed products such as robotic scopes that can be steered into patient's lungs in order to identify cancerous tumours.

In May of last year, the company entered a partnership with a subsidiary of J&J’s medical devices business with the purpose of developing integrated systems for robotic control, navigation, and application of microwave ablation via bronchoscopes, fibre-optic cable that is passed into the windpipe in order to view the bronchi.

A potential purchase would not be J&J's first foray into surgical robotics as, back in 2015, the company partnered with Alphabet Inc.’s medical arm, Verily Life Sciences, in order to form a joint venture named Verb Surgical for the development of a new generation of robotic-assisted tools for surgeons.

Johnson & Johnson's shares were down 1.45% at $128.80 at 1329 GMT.