Avinger Signs Agreement with U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for Lumivascular Technology

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Sept. 13, 2016 -- Avinger, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGR), a developer of innovative treatments for peripheral artery disease (PAD), today announced the company has received an FSS Contract Award from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) which establishes terms under which VA hospitals across the country may acquire Avinger’s portfolio of Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) image-guided catheters for their veterans hospitals.

VA operates the nation's largest integrated health care system, with more than 1,700 hospitals, clinics, community living centers, domiciliaries, readjustment counseling centers, and other facilities.

“We’re thrilled that our Lumivascular technologies will now be available to the men and women who have served our country through this agreement with VA,” said Jeff Soinski, president and CEO of Avinger.  

“I am happy to see this agreement come to fruition, as most of my medicine and cardiology training has been at VA hospitals,” said Avinger founder and executive chairman John B. Simpson, PhD, MD. “The men and women of VA deserve the best. In my humble opinion, Avinger has that to offer.”

About Avinger, Inc.
Avinger, Inc. is a commercial-stage medical device company that designs, manufactures and sells image-guided, catheter-based systems for the treatment of patients with Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD). PAD is characterized by a build-up of plaque in the arteries that supply blood to the arms and legs. The company’s mission is to dramatically improve the treatment of vascular disease through the introduction of products based on its Lumivascular platform, the only intravascular image-guided system of therapeutic catheters available in this market. Avinger’s current Lumivascular products include the Lightbox™ OCT imaging console, the Ocelot™ family of catheters, which are designed to penetrate total arterial blockages, known as chronic total occlusions, or CTOs, and Pantheris™, the first-ever image-guided Atherectomy device, designed to precisely remove arterial plaque in PAD patients. For more information, please visit www.avinger.com.

About the Department of Veterans Affairs
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provides health care services to veterans at 1,588 locations. The VA also operates 300 Vet Centers and 70 Mobile Vet Centers, which provide readjustment counseling to veterans and their families. Veterans can access outpatient care at 1,207 locations, acute inpatient (hospital) care at 144 locations, community living centers at 134 locations and residential rehabilitation at 114 locations. In 2014, VA treated more than six million patients during 92 million outpatient visits and nearly 707,000 inpatient admissions. Another 1.3 million received care in local communities, funded by VA. New technologies are expanding access to care. For example, VA telehealth programs – the largest and most comprehensive in the nation – are turning veterans’ homes and communities into preferred sites of care. In 2014, VA’s telehealth programs provided care to more than 717,000 veterans in more than 2.1 million episodes of care. Outreach using mobile health clinics and rural health care partnerships continues to expand access to veterans in rural areas.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include statements regarding, but not limited to the acquisition of Lumivascular technologies by VA hospitals. Such statements are based on current assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially. These risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, include market conditions and future decisions regarding the Company’s use of cash resources; as well as the other risks described in the section entitled “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in our second quarter Form 10-Q filing made with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 5, 2016. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof and should not be unduly relied upon. The Company assumes no obligation to update or supplement forward-looking statements that become untrue because of subsequent events, new information or otherwise.

Investor Contact:
Matt Ferguson
Avinger, Inc.
(650) 241-7917
[email protected]