Medicaroid Corporation's US Subsidiary Commences Operations in Silicon Valley

Medicaroid Corporation (HQ: Kobe, Japan; President: Yasuhiko Hashimoto; hereinafter, "Medicaroid"), a joint venture between Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. (HQ: Kobe, Japan; President: Shigeru Murayama; hereinafter, "Kawasaki") and Sysmex Corporation (HQ: Kobe, Japan; Chairman and CEO: Hisashi Ietsugu; hereinafter, "Sysmex"), has established a subsidiary in the United States, MEDICAROID, INC., which commenced operations in January 2016. MEDICAROID, INC. will cooperate with Medicaroid to conduct medical robot technology development, marketing activities and regulatory affairs for approval by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), with the aim of expanding business going forward.

The scope of application for robotic assisted surgery, which was first introduced in the 1990s in the United States, is expanding rapidly as a type of minimum-invasive therapy, as various instances of clinical research and studies have shown evidence of its safety and efficacy. In Japan, medical robots were approved as authorized medical devices in 2009 and have begun to be applied in surgical therapy for prostate cancer and other diseases.

The United States is the world’s largest market for medical robots, accounting for more than half of the total. The region around the Bay Area of San Jose, known as Silicon Valley, is a leading area for medical robot technology, being home to distinguished IT companies, universities, medical institutes and medical robot companies.

Through MEDICAROID, INC’s operation in this leading-edge environment, Medicaroid will develop the US market for made-in-Japan medical robots utilizing the R&D and manufacturing capabilities of Kawasaki and Sysmex, thereby contributing to the advancement of medicine.