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Google's Life Sciences spinoff now has a robotic surgery spinoff

Google's Life Sciences spinoff now has a robotic surgery spinoff

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It's called 'Verb Surgical'

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On Monday, Alphabet surprised us by introducing Verily, the new name for Google Life Sciences. Now, Verily has delivered its own offspring with the help of Johnson & Johnson: a surgical solutions company named Verb Surgical.

The new company will develop robots and surgical platforms aimed at helping doctors in the operating room. But that's pretty much all we know about Verb Surgical's projects, which are already underway. "The team has already made meaningful progress on the robotics platform, which is being developed for application across a host of surgical specialties," Gary Pruden, worldwide chairman at Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices, said in a press release.

"The team has already made meaningful progress on the robotics platform"

This is the first company that Verily has launched with a partner, Verily CEO Andrew Conrad told Wired. But it probably won't be the last. "We expect to work closely with pharma, biotech, medical device and diagnostic companies, patient advocacy groups, and academic researchers in different ways for a long time to come," Conrad said. Both Verily and Ethicon — Johnson & Johnson's medical device company — have contributed intellectual property to the spinoff.

As for the new company's name, "Verb Surgical" is apparently supposed to convey how serious the spinoff is about impacting the medical world. "Our name speaks for itself," Verb Surgical CEO Scott Huennekens said in a press release. "We are a company dedicated to action and to making a difference in people's lives, in partnership with surgeons globally."