Apyx Medical Corporation creates medical devices with helium plasma technology for surgical and cosmetic markets worldwide. The company, formerly known as Bovie Medical Corporation, changed its name to Apyx Medical Corporation in January 2019 after selling the core business and original name to Symmetry Surgical Inc. in August of 2018 to specialize solely on its helium plasma technology.
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“Having a new company name helps us set a stake in the ground that we are different. We are taking a different approach to writing the next chapter of our company’s story,” says Vice President of Marketing, Jeffrey Hoffman.
Apyx markets its technology under the Renuvion Cosmetic Technology brand in the cosmetic surgery market and under the J-Plasma brand name in the surgical market. The name Renuvion was chosen for the cosmetic side of the business since there is a huge patient component to the product sales, and J-Plasma is a more technical-sounding name that did not resonate well with patients. The product development of the Renuvion products will take a different approach to ensure the products meet the unique needs of plastic surgeons and cosmetic physicians.
Radio frequency (RF) energy has been used in medical applications since the 1920s but advances in Renuvion and J-Plasma products combined a proprietary RF energy profile with helium gas which can be ionized into plasma with very little energy. The resulting plasma is quite versatile for surgical and cosmetic applications. The controlled heat can see applications from ablating diseased tissue to precise cutting, tissue contraction and promoting collagen production.
J-Plasma enables surgeons to operate with precision and has been used in a wide variety of surgical procedures with great success. Apyx is now focused on applying the same technology to cosmetic surgical procedures with Renuvion so cosmetic surgeons can provide desired results using controlled heat with minimal heating of the surrounding tissue.
Apyx stands out in the cosmetic and plastic surgery industry for its experience and knowledge developing unique radio frequency (RF) waveforms in the medical surgery market. “That’s what we are really good at: the innovation of RF waveforms,” says President and Chief Executive Officer Charlie Goodwin.
For this helium plasma product line, Apyx combined RF energy with cold helium plasma so the surgeon can provide energy to tissue in a way that was never before possible. “The technology is very unique because we had to develop a different waveform to create helium plasma, and that allows doctors a very high level of precision with the product as well as always having very minimal thermal spread,” says Jeff. The cosmetic surgery market has room for similar products, making the company a huge resource for the industry.
Its goal in the cosmetic field is not to make a quick sale; it is to invest in its customers’ practices for the long term to ensure that their procedures are performed as efficiently as possible. The company is putting much effort into market research to fully understand the particular needs of its customers and their patients.
“We don’t come from this space, and so we’ve had to learn it, which makes us a little bit different, but we’re all scientific, clinically-minded people, and we all bring that hospital-sales discipline into this space, and that is what has really added a lot of credibility for us with the doctors,” says Jeff. When developing new products, Apyx has surgeons involved from the very beginning to help develop the scope of the project and guide it to prototype development, and it has built close working relationships with these physician partners.
As Apyx works on rebranding and commercializing the Renuvion line, it continues to look for growth opportunities in other applications and markets that could benefit from its products.
Following its bold move, the restructured company experienced numerous dramatic changes and in the future, it will continue to capitalize on its patented technology as it focuses on the cosmetic and plastic surgery market. At the same time, the J-Plasma products will remain in the medical surgery market and will continue to see growth as well.
One of the key challenges for Apyx in the last year has been its transition from a slow-growth business offering over 2,500 medical devices and supplies to a fast-growing startup-type company in the cosmetic market with one main product line. The major transformation in approach has required some changes in leadership positions.
“I like to hire good and smart people and empower those people to help us move the business forward. We’re very much focused on the customer, and we try to bring innovation and technology to help their patients and help their practices,” says Charlie.
Apyx has corporate headquarters located in Clearwater, Florida, where it does its research and manufacturing, and a subsidiary manufacturing facility in Sofia, Bulgaria. The staff is a smart, hardworking group working toward achieving the company’s goals.
“It is exciting to work with the group of people I get to work with. They are tremendously supportive, and we’ve transformed this company from what it was to what it is in a very short period of time. We couldn’t be more excited about the future of everything that we’ve got going on,” says Charlie.
Apyx Medical Corporation hopes to change the landscape of the cosmetic surgery market with its helium plasma technology and is excited about welcoming talented new people who will help it find new ways to provide its customers and their patients with a product that improves lives.
