Johnson & Johnson (J&J) MedTech has announced that the Monarch Platform and Monarch Bronchoscope have obtained regulatory approval in China. The platform is the first minimally invasive, robotic-assisted technology approved for peripheral lung procedures in China and the first J&J MedTech robotic-assisted technology approved in China. This also marks the first regulatory approval of the Monarch Platform outside of the United States.

The Monarch Platform, used with the Monarch Bronchoscope, is intended to provide bronchoscopic visualisation of and access to adult patient airways for diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. The device enables physicians to use minimally invasive, robotic-assisted technology for peripheral lung procedures.

The ability to reach small, hard-to-reach peripheral lung nodules at an earlier stage and with greater precision is helping to transform the future of interventional care for patients because nodules from lung cancer are typically small, deep in the lungs and difficult to reach, making early-stage diagnosis and treatment difficult.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide, and early detection has been shown to increase survival rates if the disease is caught at a stage when it is more likely to be treated successfully.

"There are more than two million patients diagnosed with lung cancer each year around the world, and nearly 40% of them are in China," said Will Song, President, Johnson & Johnson MedTech China. 

To date, The Monarch platform has been used in more than 35,000 cases in the United States.