CryoLife history

In December 1985, the Massey-Burch Group put up $1 million and obtained warrants for an additional $1.4 million in stock.

With that capital backing, in 1986 CryoLife generated revenues of $3.2 million and turned a profit of $230,000.

By 1990, CryoLife had begun expanding its tissue preservation technique to include veins, and in the next year petitioned the FDA to approve an innovative method of freezing whole blood.

In December 1992, the FDA classified human heart valves for transplantation as medical devices subject to premarket approval application before their commercial distribution.

In June 1993, permission for its clinical study was expanded to allow up to 35 patient implants at each of 10 primary medical centers plus up to 1,200 implants at 440 secondary centers.

In April 1994, it opened its new combined bioadhesive laboratory and pilot production facility.

First, in 1995, it acquired the rights to the O'Brien Stentless Aortic Porcine Bioprostheses, a vital key in the development of its SynerGraft technology.

1996: The company begins building its European product base with the introduction of CryoLife-O'Brien stentless porcine aortic heart valve.

However, Horizon defaulted on a supply contract that was part of its sales agreement obligations, and CryoLife was forced to reassume control of IFM in 1999.

By 2000, CryoLife was logging record revenues and earnings, partly driven by the company's expansion and diversification.

In 2001, it also faced litigation when the Colorado State University Research Foundation filed suit against the company for its failure to credit a university professor for patents on a surgical process that the plaintiffs alleged CryoLife used in its SynerGraft processes.

The company’s protein hydrogel technology platform was expanded in 2009 with the CE Mark approval of BioFoam® Surgical Matrix.

In September of 2010, CryoLife signed an exclusive worldwide manufacturing and distribution agreement with Starch Medical of San Jose, California, for a powdered hemostatic agent, PerClot®. PerClot is CE Marked and is available in certain international markets at this time.

In May of 2011, the Company completed the acquisition of CardioGenesis Corporation.

In February 2014, a new sales and marketing center was opened in Singapore, supporting all of the Company’s business in the Pacific Rim countries; Japan, China, South East Asia, Australia, Malaysia and Indonesia.