Redefining surgical solutions with innovation, service, and partnerships Corza Medical

Private equity firm GTCR partnered with Gregory T. Lucier in 2019 to form Corza Health, an investment management company with a vision to transform the surgical technologies and supplies industry. On Feb. 1, 2021, the partners simultaneously acquired and merged Surgical Specialties Corporation (“Surgical Specialties”) and the TachoSil^® Fibrin Sealant Patch (“TachoSil”) product line to create a new company, Corza Medical.

Surgical Specialties was a medical technology company focused on high-performance surgical sutures and ophthalmic knives. TachoSil, previously owned by Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, was a collection of differentiated surgical patch products that enabled the safe and fast control of bleeding during surgeries. In December 2021, Corza Medical acquired globally recognized Katena Products Inc. for its best-in-class ophthalmic instrumentation technology. Today, these products continue to shine among a broad array of Corza Medical offerings.

Since its formation, Corza Medical has rapidly grown both organically and via additional acquisitions to develop a broad and diverse portfolio of surgical technology products across three major divisions: Biosurgery, Wound Closure, and Ophthalmology. These products enable technologies representing a wide spectrum of medical specialties and serving over 10 million patients annually.

The Biosurgery business unit provides innovative and state-of-the-art technology that aids in controlling bleeding during surgical procedures. The Wound Closure business unit offers industry-leading needle technology and sutures that are essential to maintaining wound closure integrity during surgery. The Ophthalmology business unit is renowned for improving the quality of care in the global eye care community through its high-performance instrumentation, surgical lenses, and other innovative and trusted technologies.

In the nascent phase of their company’s development, Corza Medical’s leaders began to recognize that many medical technologies and supplies companies were shifting away from service excellence and customer partnerships towards their latest technical innovations. Extensive market research corroborated the Corza team’s observation of a significant gap in the market for reliable service and closer customer partnerships involving essential surgical products, technologies, and solutions that medical professionals use every day.

Consequently, Corza Medical established objectives aimed at bridging that gap in the healthcare industry and differentiating its brand with an unwavering focus on three critical elements: trusted performance through the implementation of top-notch products and technologies, remarkable service in all customer interactions, and consistent delivery of outstanding value.

The Silicon Review contacted Tom Testa, CEO of Corza Medical, for an interview, and here’s what he had to say.

Interview Highlights

Q. How does Corza help the surgical community save their time, money, and effort?

Corza Medical is committed to enabling its sales team to engage with surgeons and clinicians in a purposeful manner. The company’s aim is to alleviate the challenges faced by customers in the surgical community, thereby enhancing the well-being of patients through cutting-edge product solutions and expedited recovery periods. Corza firmly believes that the key to success in healthcare lies in forging strong partnerships.

Corza Medical’s customers also benefit from the advantage of scale, which Corza Medical is leveraging by expanding its product portfolio. By managing groups of brands together under a common corporate structure, the company can offer its sophisticated products at competitive prices, even as it bears the cost of providing superior service and individualized attention to its customers.

With “Customer First” as their first core value, members of the Corza Medical sales team undergo rigorous training on various surgical and medical-treatment techniques as well as on the wide range of products available to facilitate these procedures. They work closely with surgeons and clinicians to provide services beyond mere selling. The sales team members immerse themselves in their clients' practices by optimizing instrument trays and observing surgeries up close in the operating room. This approach helps them identify their clients' problems and needs as well as develop ideas for product improvements or new products.

Corza Medical sales associates assist surgeons and clinicians in selecting the best products to match their specific needs. For instance, associates may recommend whether reusable or single-use products best fit a hospital or its professionals. The associates can provide sound advice because they have observed the medical facility's sterilization procedures and learned about other factors that could affect the decision-making process.

Apart from providing technical training to its sales team members, Corza Medical emphasizes the importance of soft skills, such as active listening, empathy, dependability, friendliness, and courteousness. The company values the human touch in its customer service practices. Instead of subjecting customers to robot voice commands and endless touch-tone menus, the company ensures that calls are answered within three rings by a human being who asks, "How can I help?"

 Corza Medical considers product quality an essential element of remarkable service and value. As such, the company has invested in quality control staff dedicated to meticulously examining newly manufactured products to ensure adherence to exacting standards.

Furthermore, Corza Medical has vertically integrated its manufacturing and supply chain by acquiring key suppliers and manufacturing facilities globally. This helps to insulate Corza Medical customers from costly delays or complications related to supply chain disruptions.

These measures focus on customers' needs and experiences with Corza Medical at every touchpoint in the relationship. The company leverages its high-performance technologies and relentlessly focuses on remarkable service to deliver outstanding value, saving its customers time, effort, and money.

Q. As a leading provider of surgical and medical-treatment devices, what are Corza’s key focus areas?

Corza Medical will make some big product-oriented announcements in the near future. Expansion of its product portfolio and ongoing product development and innovation are important priorities.

However, the company’s key differentiation comes from outstanding service and closer customer partnerships in providing essential surgical products, technologies, and solutions that medical professionals use every day.

In order to fulfill the promise of providing customer service excellence, Corza Medical has adopted a three-pronged approach. Firstly, we aim to digitally engage customers, thereby providing them with a comprehensive support system. Secondly, we strive to be responsive and agile in addressing customers’ needs, ensuring that customers’ requirements are met in a timely and efficient manner. Lastly, Corza Medical endeavors to facilitate customers’ uninterrupted pursuit of their medical-care mission, ensuring that they receive the necessary care and support without any hindrance.

The company is investing significantly in a robust and truly differentiated digital ecosystem that allows Corza Medical to reach and support its customers wherever they are. As a true pioneer in its MedTech segment, the company launched its e-commerce channels in 2021, which already account for more than 15% of U.S. sales.

That best-in-class digital ecosystem creates numerous digital touchpoints that help customers find the company, learn about it, interact with it, and receive seamless service. Additionally, each business unit has aggressively invested in both a field- and inside-sales team structure to be agile and effective when supporting customers. Finally, Corza Medical has vertically integrated its manufacturing and supply chain by acquiring key suppliers and manufacturing facilities globally.

To foster closer customer partnerships, Corza Medical has established technology and innovation centers of excellence. In these centers, surgeons, students, and other healthcare professionals may collaborate with product engineers in medical procedure simulations and “test drive” products, as well as provide feedback that benefits product development and refinement.

Corza Medical breaks through the crowded medical and health-technology industry by leveraging our high-performance technologies and relentlessly focusing on remarkable customer service and excellence in everything we do every day. The company's exceptional service ensures that the value provided is truly outstanding. Indeed, Corza Medical maintains a remarkably high OTIF (on time, in full) delivery rate, consistently providing exceptional quality, all while offering competitive pricing. We believe that if we can do the critical little things right every day and every time, we will deliver a differentiated experience and outstanding value to our customers globally.

Q. Can you provide us with one or two success stories detailing specific client challenges and how Corza’s solutions contributed to their success?

Ophthalmology

In one case, an eye surgeon discussed with us his challenges in managing post-operative red eye in his patients, a condition that results from the administration of subconjunctival anesthesia when he performs his cases. Corza Medical worked with him closely to develop his idea of a new, more efficient, and less intrusive way to breach the conjunctiva during the procedure. Today, we are proud to offer that solution — the Conjunctival Probe (CP Probe), which mitigates red eye, reduces discomfort, improves patients’ quality of life, and reduces cost when compared to the standard Wescott Scissor that is traditionally used.

Wound Closure

Corza Medical customer Dr. Mark Schoemann, in his busy plastic surgery practice, has observed multiple benefits of Quill barbed sutures. These sutures contribute to faster suturing and reduced operating (OR) time, ultimately leading to cost savings. Dr. Schoemann particularly notes these benefits when using the bi-directional Quill sutures in abdominoplasty procedures. Quill sutures also offer enhanced security for subcuticular incisions compared to monofilament sutures. Additionally, Dr. Schoemann finds microMend PRO to be a simple and inconspicuous method for reducing tension and preventing incision separation and hypertrophic scarring. By transitioning from approximately 450 3-0 monofilament sutures to Sharpoint Monoderm sutures, Dr. Schoemann estimates an annual saving of around $1,200 for his practice.

 Tell us what is next for Corza Medical.

Over the past three years since Corza’s inception, we have built a robust foundation to support delivering on our promises of championing products trusted for their performance and consistently delivering remarkable service at an outstanding value.

Now, we are focused on leveraging that foundation to accelerate our growth and scale throughout our global markets. Examples of this include investing in our business processes and operational infrastructure, aggressively recruiting high-performing talent, growing global teams, and fostering a culture of excellence so that we continue to deliver remarkable customer experiences globally.

Meet Tom Testa

Tom Testa is a seasoned executive with more than 30 years of leadership experience, with the last 14 years focused on the medical device industry. Before becoming CEO in 2023, Tom was Chief Financial Officer of Corza Medical since its inception in 2021. Tom’s experience includes both senior financial and general management roles. He came to Corza Medical following his assignment as Vice President and General Manager of Nordson Medical, which he joined following Nordson’s acquisition of the Vention Medical Advanced Technologies business, where he was President. Tom was formerly the Chief Financial Officer of Vention Medical and GenTek, Inc., a diversified industrial holding company. Tom earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology and an MBA in Finance from the Stern School of Business at New York University.

To learn more about Corza Medical, visit https://corza.com

“To foster closer customer partnerships, Corza Medical has established technology and innovation centers of excellence.” 

“As a true pioneer in its MedTech segment, Corza Medical launched its e-commerce channels in 2021, which already account for more than 15% of U.S. sales.”