Italian company MMI is taking its Symani Surgical System to the Asia Pacific (APAC) region after signing two new distribution agreements covering 11 countries.
The first partnership, with Device Technologies, will help to introduce the Symani Surgical System to Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Macau, New Zealand, upon regulatory approvals, and Australia, where it received approval from the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).
The second partnership with TRM Korea will introduce the microsurgical robotic technology to surgeons and hospitals in South Korea upon regulatory approval.
Symani is a robotic system with wristed instrument and is designed to enable precise movements and macro surgeon movements for microsurgery and supermicrosurgery. It can be used for suturing, ligation, anastomoses and coaptations.
VP of Asia Pacific of MMI Matt Lemay said: “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.”
MMI announced the CE mark launch and first human use of Symani in Europe in October 2020. The first four successful robotic surgeries using the system were performed in Florence, Italy. The system is not approved or cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for commercial use in the U.S.
MMI introduced the Symani Surgical System Simulator in May 2022 to support the training of surgeons who will be using the Symani Surgical System to perform robotic microsurgeries. The simulator is developed by medical simulation training company VirtaMed and allows surgeons to develop their skills before using the system in surgery.
The expansion of MMI to the APAC region increases access to robotic surgical devices in the area. According to GlobalData, the robotic surgery market is expected to generate $17.1bn by 2030. Intuitive Surgical and Stryker are the leading companies in the robotic surgery market in the APAC region with a combined share of 51.7%. In 2015, the Asia-Pacific robotic surgery market was valued at $67.8m and is expected to reach $285m in 2025, in a 320% increase.
