Health & Fitness
Health and Fitness
Health and Fitness
Fri, January 16, 2009
Thu, January 15, 2009
I-Flow Wins 2009 Frost & Sullivan North American Growth Strategy Leadership Award
LAKE FOREST, Calif.--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--I-Flow Corporation (NASDAQ:IFLO) won Frost & Sullivan's 2009 North American Growth Strategy Leadership Award for its market leadership and revenue growth of the ON-Q® Pain Relief System. The award was presented to the company at Frost & Sullivan's 2009 Excellence in Best Practices Awards Banquet on Tuesday, January 13th at the InterContinental New Orleans in Louisiana.
"I-Flow is growing rapidly – a direct result of its breakthrough technology and platform ideology," said Venkat Rajan, Industry Manager, Frost & Sullivan. "In addition to revenue growth, I-Flow has actively pursued new indications for its regional anesthesia therapy as well as collaborated with other companies to extend its presence in the industry. I-Flow's history as a niche player has progressed into a future as a diversified company with products exploring new frontiers of ambulatory pain management. We are proud to give I-Flow our North American Growth Strategy Leadership Award for its revolutionary technology, rapid growth, strategic alliances and future product potential."
"We are humbled and appreciative that we were presented with this prestigious award by Frost & Sullivan and for being recognized for our innovative technology and rapid growth, especially after a year with such a challenging economy and market volatility," said Donald M. Earhart, President and CEO. "We are poised to further propel sales growth as we develop and launch new products, and as our preeminent sales force of 200 quota-carrying representatives forges ahead by helping healthcare facilities, surgeons and anesthesiologists nationwide to redefine recovery and improve outcomes for patients following surgery."
Within the last three years, I-Flow Corporation's ON-Q brand has achieved a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 40 percent, fueled in part by the over 150 percent growth of the immensely successful ON-Q® C-bloc®, the newest star in the ON-Q® line. The company is a market leader in better patient outcomes through therapies that reduce narcotics while relieving pain after surgery. I-Flow is redefining recovery following surgery with its novel products and technologies. Supported by strong clinical evidence, the company's flagship product line, ON-Q® Pain Relief System, is labeled to significantly reduce narcotic intake and to significantly reduce pain better than narcotics alone following surgery. Lowering narcotic intake means patients may have less immunosuppression which may also lead to a lower risk of infection. ON-Q is a portable and patient-friendly balloon-like pump that automatically and continuously infuses a local anesthetic to the surgical site area or adjacent nerves in the days immediately following surgery. Medication is delivered through proprietary catheters that evenly distribute medication only to the areas that need it, helping patients get back to normal faster.
The ON-Q value proposition has recently become even more compelling with the implementation of the new rule for Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) reimbursement related to hospital-acquired conditions (HAC). The new guidelines state that certain HAC are no longer reimbursed, so for discharges occurring after October 1, 2008, hospitals do not receive additional payment for patients for whom certain conditions were not present on admission, such as some hospital-acquired infections. Since patients who use ON-Q take fewer narcotics, their length of stay in the hospital is generally shorter. This lowers their probability of getting an HAC so costs are typically less.
I-Flow continues to develop new and innovative acute care products. The company recently received 510(k) clearance from the FDA for its oxygen-enriched topical hydrophilic closed cell foam wound dressing developed by AcryMed. The dressing is intended to supply oxygen as well as manage wound moisture in difficult-to-heal wounds. With its own robust product portfolio together with the acquisition of AcryMed in February 2008, I-Flow is rapidly growing while concurrently evolving into an acute care products company.
The Frost & Sullivan Award for Growth Strategy Leadership is presented each year to the company that has bolstered its position in the market during the base year and whose strategy will have a lasting impact on the market. Award criteria is based on the ability to grow in a saturated or maturing market, implementation of a unique sales strategy, technological innovation and leadership, strategic mergers, acquisitions, or joint ventures to penetrate new markets, and discovery of new sales avenues for an established product.
Frost & Sullivan's Best Practices Awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research in order to identify best practices in the industry.
About Frost & Sullivan
Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth and achieve best in class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company's Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined research and best practice models to drive the generation, evaluation and implementation of powerful growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan leverages over 45 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment community from 31 offices on six continents. To join our Growth Partnership, please visit [ http://www.frost.com ].
About I-Flow
I-Flow Corporation ([ www.IFLO.com ]) is improving surgical outcomes by designing, developing and marketing technically-advanced, low-cost drug delivery systems and innovative surgical products for post-surgical pain relief and surgical site care. For more information on I-Flow Corporation visit [ www.iflo.com ].
About ON-Q
The ON-Q® Post-Op Pain Relief System provides automatic and continuous infusion of a local anesthetic to the patient's surgical site area or adjacent nerves immediately following surgery, getting patients back on their feet faster. It reduces patients' need for narcotics and decreases potential of breakthrough pain. Also, simple, yet elegant and requires little to no management or intervention by the patient or caregiver. The device is completely portable and can be carried in a pouch or attached to a patients' clothing.
To learn more about the benefits of ON-Q visit [ www.AskYourSurgeon.com ].
"Safe Harbor" Statement
Statements by the Company in this press release and in other reports and statements released by the Company are and will be forward-looking in nature and express the Company's current opinions about trends and factors that may impact future operating results. Statements that use words such as "may," "will," "should," "believes," "predicts," "estimates," "projects," "anticipates" or "expects" or use similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to material risks, assumptions and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those currently expected, and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Except as required by applicable law, the Company undertakes no obligation to publish revised forward-looking statements to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated or subsequent events. Readers are also urged to carefully review and consider the various disclosures made by the Company in this press release that seek to advise interested parties of the risks and other factors that affect the Company's business. Interested parties should also review the Company's reports on Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K and other reports that are periodically filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The risks affecting the Company's business include, among others: physician acceptance of infusion-based therapeutic regimens; implementation of the Company's direct sales strategy; successful integration of the Company's recent acquisition of AcryMed Incorporated and further development and commercialization of AcryMed's technologies; dependence on the Company's suppliers and distributors; the Company's continuing compliance with applicable laws and regulations, such as the Medicare Supplier Standards and the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, and Medicare's and the FDA's concurrence with management's subjective judgment on compliance issues; the reimbursement system currently in place and future changes to that system; product availability, acceptance and safety; competition in the industry; technological changes; intellectual property challenges and claims; economic and political conditions in foreign countries; currency exchange rates; inadequacy of booked reserves; potential non-cash purchase accounting adjustments associated with the AcryMed acquisition; and reliance on the success of the home health care industry. All forward-looking statements, whether made in this press release or elsewhere, should be considered in context with the various disclosures made by the Company about its business.
