J&J, Verily Form Independent Surgical Company

Johnson & Johnson and Verily Life Sciences have formed an independent surgical solutions company to develop robotic-assisted technologies to help enable better patient outcomes, improve access to minimally invasive surgery and achieve greater hospital efficiency.

The company – which will be named Verb Surgical – was formed as part of a March 2015 partnership between J&J unit and Google Life Sciences.

Ethicon is developing minimally invasive surgical instruments for the company’s new robotics-assisted platform.

Verily will be headquartered in Mountain View, Calif. — Michael Cipriano