How an Italian microsurgery pioneer is making Jacksonville its launchpad for U.S. expansion (Courtesy of the Jacksonville Business Journal) — Minutes away from the St. Johns Town Center, a 30,000-square-foot facility in Jacksonville is shrinking surgeons. At least, figuratively.
It’s been two years since international microsurgery pioneer and distributor Medical Microinstruments established its global headquarters on the Southside — one piece of its operation to pioneer robotic systems that let doctors operate at miniscule-level scale.
Fresh off multiple FDA approvals — including its digital ecosystem Synaptics and new microsurgical instruments — the Pisa, Italy-founded company is accelerating its U.S. expansion from its Jacksonville hub. The company’s local office is located at 5022 Gate Parkway N.
With Medical Microinstruments’ robotics platform, called Symani Surgical System, surgeons are able to operate at a level about 20-times smaller than they are, explained CEO Mark Toland.
“It’s a little bit like the movie ‘Honey I Shrunk the Kids’ except it’s like ‘Honey I Shrunk the Surgeon,’” he explained.
Founded in 2015, MMI’s main clientele consists of hospitals that specialize in cancer treatment, which has fueled its 25% to 50% growth each year, Toland told the Business Journal. Approved by the FDA in the U.S., its system is also a CE-marked medical device in Europe.
Surgical robotics is a sector already flush with major, multi-billion-dollar companies. Silicon Valley-based Intuitive Surgical, for instance, generated $8.4 million in revenue from its robotic-assisted surgery platforms: the da Vinci and Ion.
But MMI operates from a niche slice of the broader sector.
“There’s other companies out there that do soft tissue robotics, but they work in what I call ‘the macro space,’” he said. “It’s quite different — they do big organs — and we do small things in the microscopic space.”
Totaling roughly 300 employees, including 50 in Jacksonville and 150 in Italy, MMI’s main innovation and manufacturing hub remains overseas. Its local operations are mainly focused around repairs and service, distributing, training and administrative capabilities.
Right now, MMI has one Symani system at Baptist Health in Jacksonville and another at Tampa General Hospital. Two weeks ago, the first U.S. clinical use of the recently FDA-approved instruments was completed at Tampa General, representing the world’s first fully robotic-assisted microsurgical operation from initial incision to skin closure, according to MMI.
Toland anticipates adding more Jacksonville hospitals, but he said the next target Florida markets for MMI are Miami and Orlando. Next year, the company aims to install 30 new Symani platforms in place across the country, all while getting regulatory approvals for deployment in South Korea, Japan and other areas of Asia.
As of end-of-2024, MMI had raised a total investment of $220 million, according to its website. It’s backed by an array of global investors, including Fidelity Management & Research Company, BioStar, Deerfield Management and Wellington Partners, among others.
In Toland’s own words: “This space is just getting started for us.”
Photo of Symani Surgical System courtesy of Medical Microinstruments