AxoGen Inc. CEO Receives SpotLight Award from the Southeastern Medical Device Association

Jamie Grooms Recognized for Achievement in Fostering Growth of Medical Devices

ATLANTA--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--The Southeastern Medical Device Association (SEMDA) today announced the recipients of the 2009 SpotLight Awards, which recognize outstanding achievement in fostering the growth of the medical device community in the Southeast U.S. Jamie M. Grooms, co-founder and CEO of AxoGen, has been selected as a recipient of the 2009 Spotlight Award for his groundbreaking work in the development of technologies to treat peripheral nerve damage. AxoGen, based in Alachua, FL, markets AVANCE Nerve Graft, the first allograft peripheral nerve that preserves the essential three dimensional structure and key biochemical components of natural nerve tissue.

“This award is further validation for the work we are doing at AxoGen; work which we hope will improve the lives and the standard of care of anyone suffering a peripheral nerve injury.”

Grooms has more than 15 years of experience in launching, growing and managing biotechnology companies. In addition to co-founding AxoGen, he was co-founder and CEO of Regeneration Technologies, a leading supplier of allograft and xenograft implants for surgeries. Grooms also has extensive experience in all areas of the allograft business, working in various positions of leadership at Virginia Tissue Bank (now LifeNet), Osteotech and CryoLife.

“It is a great honor to be recognized by SEMDA,” said Grooms. “This award is further validation for the work we are doing at AxoGen; work which we hope will improve the lives and the standard of care of anyone suffering a peripheral nerve injury.”

The AVANCE technology incorporates the work of several prestigious research institutions such as the University of Florida and the University of Texas. AVANCE provides all the benefits of a natural nerve graft without the risk of tissue rejection or other complications associated with the use of autologous transplant, where the nerve is removed from another location in the patient’s body. It is minimally processed to preserve the three dimensional structure of the nerve and the inherent neurotropic support, laminin. This process clears the cellular and non-cellular material from the tissue: cells, cellular debris, axons as well as chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans (CSPG), a naturally occurring inhibitor to axon regeneration. The resulting nerve graft provides a sterile scaffold to allow the natural healing process to regenerate peripheral nerves.

SEMDA is a non-profit trade association that provides networking opportunities for medical device companies, inventors, physicians and investors in the Southeast. The organization also recognized the Wright Medical Group for its work with reconstructive joint and extremity devices.

About AxoGen

AxoGen, Inc. is a privately held company working to develop new and more effective products to treat peripheral nerve damage. With the focus of bringing the science of nerve repair to life, AxoGen is working to introduce new technologies to improve the standard of care for patients with injured peripheral nerves. With licensed technologies from the University of Florida, the University of Texas, and Emory University, researchers at AxoGen have developed an innovative technology platform making it possible to process allograft nerves while preserving the three dimensional scaffold and key components of the tissue. Based in Alachua, Florida, AxoGen has received funding from private investors including Accuitive Medical Ventures, Cardinal Partners, De Novo Ventures, Springboard Capital II, LLC, SynoGen, and Emergent Growth Fund of Gainesville, FL.

Visit AxoGen at: www.axogeninc.com.