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Wright Medical Group, Inc. Announces Launch of the EVOLUTIONa" Medial-Pivot Knee System

^{Published on 2010-07-29 15:40:38 - Market Wire}
 

ARLINGTON, Tenn.--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--Wright Medical Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: WMGI), a global orthopaedic medical device company, is pleased to announce the launch of the EVOLUTIONa" Medial- Pivot Knee System. The EVOLUTIONa" Knee System represents Wrighta™s next generation in medial-pivot knees, featuring enhanced instrumentation, more sizing options and a posterior stabilized option. These and other features of the new EVOLUTIONa" Medial-Pivot Knee System will be demonstrated in the following surgery webcast events:

"Often, total knee replacement patients complain that their replaced knee does not feel normal, citing noises or a sensation of the joint slipping, especially as they descend stairs. The EVOLUTIONa" implanta™s more refined medial-pivot design may feel more normal for patients."

a Monday, August 2, 2010 a" 5:00 p.m. CDT: Surgery by David DeBoer, M.D., from St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee. [ www.orlive.com/evolutionknee ]

a Monday, August 2, 2010 a" 7:00 p.m. CDT: Surgery by Lowry Barnes, M.D., from St. Vincent Hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas. [ www.stvincenthealth.com/webcast/ ]

The new EVOLUTIONa" Medial-Pivot Knee System builds upon twelve years of clinical experience with the ADVANCE® Medial-Pivot Knee System. Wrighta™s medial-pivot technology is designed to replicate the stability and function of the natural knee. David Blaha, M.D. in Ann Arbor, Michigan explained, aThe unique feature of both the ADVANCE® and the EVOLUTIONa" Medial Pivot knees is the aball-in-socket mechanisma™ on the medial side. The aball-in-socketa™ mechanism is designed to mimic the anatomy of the normal knee to promote more natural stability and motion.a Studies have shown that Wrighta™s medial-pivot technology has been consistently preferred by patients who received bilateral knee implants with a medial-pivot design in one knee and a traditionally-designed implant in the other knee.

Inspired by this patient preference, Wright created the EVOLUTIONa" Knee System to enhance its medial-pivot technology by offering more sizing options, improved instrumentation and a medial-pivoting posterior stabilized option. These enhancements were achieved through state-of-the-art engineering concepts and manufacturing technologies, including the use of CT-scans to produce implants which more accurately replicate natural knee anatomy, as well as features to aid in implantation through less-invasive surgical exposures. The resulting EVOLUTIONa" Knee System is designed to ease rehabilitation and address stability concerns which may be experienced by some total knee replacement recipients. Lowry Barnes, M.D. of Little Rock, Arkansas noted, aOften, total knee replacement patients complain that their replaced knee does not feel normal, citing noises or a sensation of the joint slipping, especially as they descend stairs. The EVOLUTIONa" implanta™s more refined medial-pivot design may feel more normal for patients.a

Alex Winber, Wrighta™s Director of OrthoRecon a" Knees, commented, aWright is very excited to introduce the EVOLUTIONa" Medial-Pivot Knee System. Aptly named, the system truly represents the evolution of an exceptional technology. Our expectation is that this next generation medial-pivot design will deliver an even higher level of patient and surgeon satisfaction compared to that of traditional total knees.a

Wright Medical Group, Inc. is a global orthopaedic medical device company and a leading provider of surgical solutions for the foot and ankle market. The Company specializes in the design, manufacture and marketing of devices and biologic products for extremity, hip and knee repair and reconstruction. The Company has been in business for 60 years and markets its products in over 60 countries worldwide. For more information about Wright Medical, visit the Companya™s website at [ www.wmt.com ].

This press release contains aforward-looking statementsa as defined under U.S. federal securities laws.These statements reflect managementa™s current knowledge, assumptions, beliefs, estimates, and expectations and express managementa™s current views of future performance, results, and trends and may be identified by their use of terms such as aanticipate,a abelieve,a acould,a aestimate,a aexpect,a aintend,a amay,a aplan,a apredict,a aproject,a awill,a and other similar terms.Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to materially differ from those described in the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include those discussed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (including those described in Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009, under the heading, aRisk Factorsa).Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.Such statements are made as of the date of this press release, and we undertake no obligation to update such statements after this date.