Aroa cracking US market through hospital partnerships and clinical evidence

• Aroa Biosurgery has successfully driven adoption of its soft tissue regeneration products in the world’s largest healthcare market 
• Company has partnerships with all four major Group Purchasing Organisations, covering up to 95% of US hospitals
• Aroa also leveraging the relationships of its sales team along with clinical evidence to support growth

Special Report: New Zealand-based Aroa Biosurgery is leveraging strategic partnerships with Group Purchasing Organisations (GPOs) and strong clinical evidence to drive adoption of its soft tissue regeneration products in the US.

Director of national accounts in the US Wes Snodgrass said by offering strong clinical documentation and more cost-effective solutions compared to its competitors, Aroa Biosurgery (ASX:ARX) was successfully cracking the world’s largest healthcare market. 

Founded in 2008 by CEO and managing director Dr Brian Ward, a trained veterinarian, the company listed on the ASX in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Not long after in 2021, ARX raised more than $47 million in an institutional placement and a share purchase plan to fund its US growth strategy.

US-based Snodgrass joined ARX the same year, tasked with building relationships with GPOs. 

“We originally had around 10 sales team members but that has grown to more than 50,” he said. 

ARX’s direct sales now account for 59% of its business, reflecting a deliberate strategic shift that has progressively expanded its direct commercial reach.

Partnerships with all the major GPOs

Snodgrass said the importance of GPOs in the US hospital procurement system was often poorly understood outside the country. 

“They were originally established to, in essence, take the contracting load off of the individual hospital or facility and aggregate hospitals into a group to achieve better standard pricing terms,” he said.

“When I first started in the industry in the 1990s there were around 35 GPOs but today there’s really only four major ones.”

ARX has managed to secure agreements with all four major GPOs covering up to 95% of US hospitals: 

• Vizient, a voluntary organisation covering more than 50% of US hospital beds and 97% of academic medical centres;
• HealthTrust, an owner-based model serving large hospital networks;
• The Resource Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ascension, one of the largest non-profit Catholic healthcare systems in the US; and
• Premier, representing more than 4350 US hospitals and health systems.

ARX’s partnerships have translated into industry recognition, with the company recently receiving Vizient’s 2026 Innovative Technology Program Excellence Award.

The award recognises ARXs collaboration with the GPO to deliver greater value to healthcare providers and the patients they serve.

“Vizient is a voluntary GPO with over 50% of the hospital beds in the US and it has 97% of the academic medical centres and it’s just a great, very collaborative group,” Snodgrass said. 

Building relationships for growth

Snodgrass said securing a GPO agreement provided an important entry point into the hospital system, potentially accelerating sales by giving products access to a much broader network of healthcare providers.

However, he said relationships were also vital in navigating the complex procurement landscape, where thousands of suppliers competed for attention.

He said suppliers needed to cut through the maze of competing products and reach the right people with the right message, backed by the resources to support hospitals once they decided to give a product a chance.

“I’ve done this for a long time, and I have built a lot of relationships, and the people that we hired have also built a lot of relationships,” he said.

“Relationships open doors, which you can build upon.” 

“When people have access, they can drive sales much more rapidly.”

Myriad hits high notes as Symphony finds rhythm

ARX’s flagship portfolio Myriad has been the main driver of ARX’s product revenue over the years, surging 54% to NZ$49.5 million in FY26.

Coming in various formats, Myriad is used in a range of surgical applications including trauma, burns and limb salvage. 

However, opportunities for growth are gaining momentum for ARX’s Symphony advanced skin substitute. Symphony is engineered for outpatient wound care, specifically diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) and venous leg ulcers. 

The outpatient skin substitute market was significantly disrupted when the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) introduced its new reimbursement model in January. 

The CMS has now proposed maintaining the new reimbursement framework through CY27, providing greater certainty for the market. 

Analysts and Snodgrass believe the new pricing favours products backed by clinical evidence and responsible pricing like Symphony. 

Strong clinical evidence and feedback supports uptake

Snodgrass said strong clinical evidence compared to competitors was also a driver of growth for ARX. 

Its ECM platform is validated by more than 130 peer-reviewed publications spanning ~5000 patients. 

Myriad’s clinical efficacy is underpinned by data from its Myriad Augmented Soft Tissue Reconstruction Registry (MASTRR) registry.

The ongoing prospective, multicentre observational study evaluates the real-world safety and performance of Myriad Matrix and Myriad Morcells across a range of complex soft tissue reconstruction procedures. 

More than 550 patients are enrolled, with the registry approved to enrol up to 800 patients across 15 US sites.

“MASTRR is the biggest study of its kind for this type of product,” Snodgrass said. 

Peer-reviewed publication of interim results was recently published in Advances in Therapy involving 411 patients enrolled in the MASTRR Registry across 10 US centres, representing 474 soft tissue defects.

The cohort presented significant clinical challenges with 59% of patients classified as ASA Class III or IV, indicating underlying systemic disease.

Wounds were also complex, with 59% chronic, 15% involving osteomyelitis and 11% exposing bone, tendon or viscera.

Despite the complexities, deep tissue infections occurred in just 0.7% of patients and superficial infections in 2.9%. No infections were definitively attributed to Myriad over the median 27-week follow-up.

While not a comparative study, the authors noted that separate meta-analyses of other resorbable synthetic bioscaffolds reported infection rates of 16% to 25%.

Results of a randomised controlled trial of Symphony also found better healing outcomes for DFUs compared to standard care.

Published in the International Wound Journal, the results showed wounds treated with Symphony healed significantly faster and were significantly more likely to close completely within 12 weeks.

ARX is also leveraging feedback and positive clinical experiences from key opinion leaders to help drive awareness and adoption of its Myriad platform. 

The engagement with experienced surgeons provides valuable real-world insights into the versatility and clinical use case for ARX’s products. 

“When you have high-quality evidence to support product differentiation along with a competitive price point that makes a difference,” Snodgrass said. 

This article was developed in collaboration with Aroa Biosurgery, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing. 

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

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