Navy Corpsman Joins 29 Organ and Tissue Transplant Recipients as Float Riders to Demonstrate Appreciation of Life-Saving Donor Gifts
Alachua, FL (PRWEB) December 30, 2013
AxoGen, Inc. (NASDAQ: AXGN), a leading regenerative medicine company focused on the development and commercialization of products and technologies for peripheral nerve reconstruction and regeneration, today announced that Navy Corpsman Edward Bonfiglio, a patient who received limb sparing surgery utilizing AxoGen’s Avance® Nerve Graft, will ride in the 2014 Rose Parade aboard the 11th annual Donate Life’s “Light Up the World” float in Pasadena, Calif. on New Year’s Day.
Mr. Bonfiglio joins 29 riders on the float, all of who whom are tissue, organ, or cornea transplant recipients. Each rider was selected by an organization for their courage, service and advocacy regarding life-saving transplants they received from generous donors. In July, Mr. Bonfiglio was selected by the American Association of Tissue Bank (AATB) to represent tissue recipients on the Donate Life float.
Tissue donation was essential in helping Mr. Bonfiglio recover from an injury sustained during military assignment in Afghanistan. During a routine foot patrol, Mr. Bonfiglio’s unit was ambushed and he was shot in his left leg. Due to injury to his sciatic nerve, he lost all function and feeling below his knee. Upon Bonfiglio’s return to the U.S., surgeons at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington, D.C. presented him with surgical repair options that included amputation of his left leg or, as he and his family elected, repair of the severed peripheral nerve with Avance® Nerve Graft, a processed nerve allograft, with the goal of allowing him to keep his own leg and restore function. Lt. Commander Patrick Basile, Director of Microsurgery at Walter Reed, performed the surgery that saved Bonfiglio’s leg. Today, using his own leg, Bonfiglio can walk and jog, and is currently training for the Paralympics at Penn State University.
Jill Schiaparelli, Senior Vice President of Marketing at AxoGen, remarked, “The thirty riders selected for Donate Life’s ‘Light Up the World’ float are an inspiration to us all with their individual stories of gratitude for renewed life. AxoGen is honored to have offered a nerve repair solution that helped save Edward’s leg and we are proud that the American Association of Tissue Banks selected Edward for this year’s float. His story is one of great courage and immense accomplishment and is a shining example of successful nerve repair with our processed nerve allograft.”
Since 2005, the AATB has sponsored the Donate Life Rose Parade Float. The theme of the 2014 Donate Life Float, “Light Up the World,” supports the organization’s mission of saving and enhancing lives through the gift of organ and tissue donation.
About the Donate Life Float
The 2014 Donate Life float is built by Phoenix Decorating Company and is coordinated by Los Angeles-based OneLegacy, the world’s largest organ, eye and tissue recovery organization. Each year, the Donate Life float campaign is supported by more than 140 official sponsors from coast to coast, including organ, eye and tissue recovery organizations, tissue processors, hospitals, transplant centers, state donor registries, funeral homes, donor family foundations and affiliated organizations. Joining OneLegacy as top-level benefactors are American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB), Dignity Memorial® network, Donate Life America, Donate Life Run/Walk Committee, Josiah’s House, The Order of St. Lazarus, SightLife and TBI/Tissue Banks International.
The Donate Life Rose Parade Float’s family of sponsors urges viewers to help make dreams come true for more than one million people in need of life-saving and healing organ, tissue and cornea transplants. Join America’s 113 million registered donors so that everyone whose life and livelihood depends on a transplant can have one. Sign up when renewing your driver’s license or by visiting http://www.DonateLifeAmerica.org.
About the Rose Parade
The 125th Rose Parade presented by Honda themed “Dreams Come True” will take place on Wednesday, January 1, 2014 at 8:00 a.m. (PST). It will be broadcast on ABC, Hallmark Channel, HGTV, KTLA (Tribune), NBC, RFD-TV and Univision. The Parade is also seen in more than 220 international territories and countries.
About AxoGen, Inc.
AxoGen (AXGN) is a leading regenerative medicine company dedicated to advancing the science and commercialization of peripheral nerve repair solutions. The Company’s innovative approach to regenerative medicine has resulted in first-in-class products that we believe will define their product categories. AxoGen’s products offer a full suite of surgical nerve repair solutions including Avance® Nerve Graft, the only off-the-shelf commercially available processed nerve allograft for bridging severed nerves without the comorbidities associated with a second surgical site, AxoGuard® Nerve Connector, a porcine submucosa ExtraCellular Matrix (“ECM”) coaptation aid for tensionless repair of severed nerves, and AxoGuard® Nerve Protector, a porcine submucosa ECM product used to wrap and protect injured peripheral nerves and reinforce the nerve reconstruction while preventing soft tissue attachments.
AxoGuard® Nerve Connector and AxoGuard® Nerve Protector are manufactured in the United States by Cook Biotech Incorporated, West Lafayette, Indiana, and are distributed exclusively by AxoGen. AxoGen is the parent of its wholly owned operating subsidiary, AxoGen Corporation. AxoGen’s principal executive office and operations are located in Alachua, FL.
Experience from thousands of uses of AxoGen’s Avance® Nerve Graft processed nerve allograft demonstrate a range of recovered sensory and motor function from none to near complete restoration. Each patient outcome is dependent upon the nature and extent of nerve loss or damage, the timing between nerve loss and repair, and the natural course of the patient’s recovery. The patient story provided reflects the experience of the particular individual and may not represent typical results.
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Cautionary Statements Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
This Press Release contains “forward-looking” statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on management’s current expectations or predictions of future conditions, events or results based on various assumptions and management’s estimates of trends and economic factors in the markets in which we are active, as well as our business plans. Words such as “expects”, “anticipates”, “intends”, “plans”, “believes”, “seeks”, “estimates”, “projects”, “forecasts”, “continue”, “may”, “should”, “will” variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements may include, without limitation, statements regarding product commercialization and marketing efforts for its portfolio of peripheral nerve repair products, Avance® Nerve Graft, AxoGuard® Nerve Connector and AxoGuard® Nerve Protector, product development, financial performance, sales growth, product adoption, market awareness of our products, data validation and the intent to list on a national securities exchange. The forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, which may cause results to differ materially from those set forth in the statements. Forward-looking statements in this release should be evaluated together with the many uncertainties that affect AxoGen’s business and its market, particularly those discussed in the risk factors and cautionary statements in AxoGen’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results may differ materially from those projected. The forward-looking statements are representative only as of the date they are made, and AxoGen assumes no responsibility to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
