FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla., Dec. 2, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MAKO Surgical Corp. (Nasdaq:MAKO), a medical device company focused on marketing its advanced robotic-arm solution and its implants for minimally invasive orthopedic knee procedures known as MAKOplasty(R), today announced the commercial availability of the Lateral Unicompartmental Knee Resurfacing Application for its RIO(R) Robotic Arm Interactive Orthopedic System. The new application complements MAKO's existing unicompartmental and bicompartmental knee applications targeting the medial and patellofemoral compartments.
"We believe the advanced proprietary features of our RIO(R) Robotic Arm System and the RESTORIS(R) MCK bicompartmental knee implant system provide the potential to address a larger population of patients suffering from limited osteoarthritis in the knee," said Dr. Maurice R. Ferre, President and CEO of MAKO. "Providing this lateral capability represents the achievement of another milestone towards the continuing commercialization of innovative technology that restores patient quality of life."
Dr. Gary Poehling, a MAKOplasty(R) surgeon at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, NC, said, "The availability of the lateral knee application is another great advance in the MAKO product offering. I am now able to utilize MAKOplasty(R) to treat patients with single compartment knee osteoarthritis, regardless if it is medial, lateral or patellofemoral."
"MAKO has again taken a difficult, heavily instrumented procedure and made it much simpler to perform with accurate and reproducible results," stated Dr. John Velyvis, a MAKOplasty(R) surgeon at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, CA. "The lateral application is a promising addition, especially in the minimally invasive treatment of women, who are more prone to this deformity."
About MAKO Surgical Corp.
MAKO Surgical Corp. is a medical device company that markets both its RIO(R) Robotic-Arm Interactive Orthopedic system and its proprietary RESTORIS(R) implants for minimally invasive orthopedic knee procedures. The MAKO RIO is a surgeon-interactive tactile surgical platform that incorporates a robotic arm and patient-specific visualization technology and prepares the knee joint for the insertion and alignment of MAKO's resurfacing RESTORIS implants through a minimal incision. The FDA-cleared RIO(R) system allows surgeons to provide a precise, consistently reproducible tissue-sparing, bone resurfacing procedure called MAKOplasty(R) to a large, yet underserved patient-specific population suffering from early to mid-stage osteoarthritic knee disease. MAKO has an intellectual property portfolio of more than 250 licensed or owned patents and patent applications relating to the areas of robotics, haptics, computer assisted surgery and implants. Additional information can be found at www.makosurgical.com. Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding, among other things, statements related to expectations, goals, plans, objectives and future events. MAKO intends such forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Private Securities Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the following words: "may," "will," "could," "would," "should," "expect," "intend," "plan," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "project," "potential," "continue," "ongoing" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. These statements are based on the current estimates and assumptions of our management as of the date of this press release and are subject to risks, uncertainties, changes in circumstances, assumptions and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by forward-looking statements, many of which are beyond MAKO's ability to control or predict. Such factors, among others, may have a material adverse effect on MAKO's business, financial condition and results of operations and may include the potentially significant impact of a further or continued economic downturn on the ability of MAKO's customers to secure adequate funding to buy MAKO's products or cause MAKO's customers to delay a purchasing decision, changes in competitive conditions and prices in MAKO's markets, unanticipated issues relating to product releases, decreases in sales of MAKO's principal product lines, increases in expenditures related to increased or changing governmental regulation or taxation of MAKO's business, unanticipated issues in securing regulatory clearance or approvals for upgrades or changes to MAKO's products, unanticipated issues associated with any healthcare reform that may be enacted, loss of key management and other personnel or inability to attract such management and other personnel and unanticipated intellectual property expenditures required to develop and market MAKO's products. These and other risks are described in greater detail under Item 1A, "Risk Factors," in MAKO's quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2009 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 5, 2009. Given these uncertainties, undue reliance should not be placed on these forward-looking statements. MAKO does not undertake any obligation to release any revisions to these forward-looking statements publicly to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
"MAKOplasty(R)," "RESTORIS(R)," and "RIO(R)," as well as the "MAKO" logo, whether standing alone or in connection with the words "MAKO Surgical Corp." are trademarks of MAKO Surgical Corp.