Medical Design and Outsourcing

  • Home
  • Medical Device Business
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Financial
    • Regulatory
  • Applications
    • Cardiovascular
    • Devices
    • Imaging
    • Implantables
    • Medical Equipment
    • Orthopedic
    • Surgical
  • Technologies
    • Supplies and Components Index
    • Contract Manufacturing
    • Components
    • Electronics
    • Extrusions
    • Materials
    • Motion Control
    • Prototyping
    • Pumps
    • Tubing
  • MedTech Resources
    • Medtech Events in 2025
    • The 2024 Medtech Big 100
    • Medical Device Handbook
    • MedTech 100 Index
    • Subscribe to Print Magazine
    • DeviceTalks
    • Digital Editions
    • eBooks
    • Educational Assets
    • Manufacturer Search
    • Podcasts
    • Print Subscription
    • Webinars / Digital Events
    • Whitepapers
    • Voices
    • Views
    • Video
  • 2025 Leadership
    • 2024 Winners
    • 2023 Winners
    • 2022 Winners
    • 2021 Winners
  • Women in Medtech
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe

Cyberdyne CEO has severed spines on his agenda

September 1, 2015 By Nic Abraham

Editor’s Note: This article is from Bloomberg.com‘s Natasha Khan.

Cyberdyne Inc.’s CEO, Yoshiyuki Sankai, is researching ways to repair damaged body tissue. The 57-year-old scientist’s vision: to treat patients with spinal injuries by using stem-cell related technology to repair nerve connections and robotic suits that aid movement.

Cyberdyne's lower-limb model Hybrid Assistive Limb Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg

Cyberdyne’s lower-limb model Hybrid Assistive Limb being used in patient care. Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg

Sankai’s company is setting its sights on better treating spinal injury patients by combining multiple approaches. It makes robot exoskeletons for physical therapy, and these bionic suits can read bio-electric signals from the patient’s muscles, helping movement in the disabled. Inspired by Isaac Asimov’s “I, Robot” as a child, Sankai says his years of mapping out the brain’s nerve network for his robots fits with the research into repairing rat spines with stem cells and proteins. His hope is to eventually use various treatments together. Cyberdyne posted revenue of 631 million yen ($5.2 million) and a loss of 915 million yen in the year ended March 31, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

His plans are getting a boost from new policies promoted by Japan’s prime minister who led a liberalization of approval rules to make it one of the world’s quickest places to get a regenerative therapy on the market. Now, Japanese corporations spanning the pharmaceutical and industrial sectors have regenerative medicine on their agenda, and industry groups estimate the domestic market for these therapies could top $25 billion by 2050.

Investors are putting money into research that explores the potential of cells to repair damaged organs and tissues, or reverse degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. “It’s a game changer, and we expect investment to keep pouring in to Japan,” said Sanjeev Kumar, a consultant at market research firm Frost & Sullivan. “After years of struggling with slow returns on investment, regenerative medicine companies across the world see a faster path in Japan, and they’re watching closely.”

Regenerative medicines in Japan can now get conditional marketing approval based on results from mid-stage, or Phase II, human trials that demonstrate safety and probable efficacy. Once lagging behind the U.S. and the E.U. on approval times, there is now an approximately three-year trajectory for approvals, according to Frost’s Kumar. That compares with seven to ten years before.

Related Articles Read More >

This is a screenshot of the remote robotic surgery technical guidelines appearing in the World Journal of Surgery.
New technical guidelines set to advance remote robotic surgery
An illustration of Embolization Inc.'s Nitinol Enhanced Device (NED).
This nitinol vascular embolization device has another shape memory material up its sleeve
A photo of nitinol, a nickel-titanium alloy used for medical devices such as stents, heart valves, catheters and orthopedics.
What is nitinol and where is it used?
A photo of Johnson & Johnson MedTech's Polyphonic-connected Monarch robotics-assisted bronchoscopy system in the lab.
J&J MedTech’s global head of digital wants to fund your AI project
“mdo
EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND STAY CONNECTED
Get the latest medical device business news, application and technology trends.

DeviceTalks Weekly

See More >

MDO Digital Edition

Digital Edition

Subscribe to Medical Design & Outsourcing. Bookmark, share and interact with the leading medical design engineering magazine today.

MEDTECH 100 INDEX

Medtech 100 logo
Market Summary > Current Price
The MedTech 100 is a financial index calculated using the BIG100 companies covered in Medical Design and Outsourcing.
DeviceTalks

DeviceTalks is a conversation among medical technology leaders. It's events, podcasts, webinars and one-on-one exchanges of ideas & insights.

DeviceTalks

New MedTech Resource

Medical Tubing

MassDevice

Mass Device

The Medical Device Business Journal. MassDevice is the leading medical device news business journal telling the stories of the devices that save lives.

Visit Website
MDO ad
Medical Design and Outsourcing
  • MassDevice
  • DeviceTalks
  • MedTech100 Index
  • Medical Tubing + Extrusion
  • Medical Design Sourcing
  • Drug Delivery Business News
  • Drug Discovery & Development
  • Pharmaceutical Processing World
  • R&D World
  • About Us/Contact
  • Advertise With Us
  • Subscribe to Print Magazine
  • Subscribe to our E-Newsletter
  • Listen to our Weekly Podcasts
  • Join our DeviceTalks Tuesdays Discussion

Copyright © 2025 WTWH Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media LLC. Site Map | Privacy Policy | RSS

Search Medical Design & Outsourcing

  • Home
  • Medical Device Business
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Financial
    • Regulatory
  • Applications
    • Cardiovascular
    • Devices
    • Imaging
    • Implantables
    • Medical Equipment
    • Orthopedic
    • Surgical
  • Technologies
    • Supplies and Components Index
    • Contract Manufacturing
    • Components
    • Electronics
    • Extrusions
    • Materials
    • Motion Control
    • Prototyping
    • Pumps
    • Tubing
  • MedTech Resources
    • Medtech Events in 2025
    • The 2024 Medtech Big 100
    • Medical Device Handbook
    • MedTech 100 Index
    • Subscribe to Print Magazine
    • DeviceTalks
    • Digital Editions
    • eBooks
    • Educational Assets
    • Manufacturer Search
    • Podcasts
    • Print Subscription
    • Webinars / Digital Events
    • Whitepapers
    • Voices
    • Views
    • Video
  • 2025 Leadership
    • 2024 Winners
    • 2023 Winners
    • 2022 Winners
    • 2021 Winners
  • Women in Medtech
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe