The company aims to continue its global momentum with a new footprint expansion in APAC. Its first partnership, struck with Device Technologies, helps bring its surgical robot to a number of countries. This brings the Symani system to Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Macau and New Zealand. Those remain contingent on regulatory approvals, while Medical Microinstruments recently received Australian authorization.
Medical Microinstruments’ other partnership, with TRM Korea, facilitates its entry into South Korea. That also depends on regulatory approval as the company sets itself to introduce microsurgical robotic technology in the region.
Pisa, Italy-based Medical Microinstruments’ Symani received CE mark in 2019, and the company continues to work on U.S. commercialization. The first-of-its-kind robotic technology enables expanded adoptions for patients in need of soft tissue open surgical procedures.
The Symani system aims to address the challenges of microsurgery with its NanoWrist instruments. These instruments help to access and suture small, delicate anatomies. That includes veins, arteries, nerves and lymphatic vessels as small as 0.3mm in diameter. It provides motion scaling and tremor reduction to allow precise micro-movements.
“Surgeons from the APAC region have long been at the forefront of innovation in microsurgery, and we look forward to helping further those capabilities with the Symani Surgical System,” said Matt Lemay, VP of Asia Pacific of MMI. “As we advance our mission of increasing treatment options for patients with complex conditions, we are enthusiastic about our global progress and look forward to continuing our momentum in APAC and beyond.”
A little more about the new Medical Microinstruments partnerships
Device Technologies provides healthcare professionals access to a number of medical devices. It plans to open a new research and education center for robotic microsurgery with a medical institution as part of this partnership.
Medical Microinstruments said this marks the first site in Central Asia where interested surgeons can learn about the system.
“MMI and the Symani Surgical System are well aligned with our core mission to provide physicians and healthcare facilities with solutions that can drive improved patient outcomes,” said Heath Priestly, managing director at Device Technologies. “Originating in Australia, we have broadened our presence throughout the Asia Pacific region, establishing expertise and strong connections. We are eager to use our footprint to support MMI’s health system partnerships across the region and further increase patient access to sophisticated surgical techniques for complex conditions.”
TRM, the largest microsurgery in South Korea, intends to collaborate with a medical institution as well. It plans to open its own education center for surgeons to engage in informational sessions and hands-on learning with Symani.
“Through our new partnerships in Asia Pacific, we have established roots that will ultimately help us expand patient access to robotic microsurgical and supermicrosurgical capability in a region of the world with clear demand for the technology,” Lemay said.
