Johnson & Johnson, Google joint venture plan gets CCI nod

Competition Commission has cleared Johnson & Johnson's proposed joint venture with Google in the area of surgical robotics. The collaboration between healthcare major Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and Internet giant Google for developing new technologies was announced in March this year. For the joint venture, medical devices company Ethicon -- part of J&J group -- has entered into a definitive agreement with Google.

In a tweet, Competition Commission of India (CCI) said it has approved "formation of a joint venture (Warren Robotics Inc) between Johnson & Johnson, Ethicon and Google". CCI keeps a tab on unfair business practices in the market place across sectors. Both J&J and Google have good presence in India.

"The companies will bring together capabilities, intellectual property and expertise to create an innovative robotic-assisted surgical platform capable of integrating advanced technologies with the goal of improving healthcare delivery in the operating room," J&J had said in March.