Avinger Announces Change in Board Leadership

Dr. John B. Simpson Departs Company; James G. Cullen Appointed Non-executive Chairman

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Dec. 11, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Avinger, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGR) (“Avinger” or the “Company”), a leading developer of innovative treatments for peripheral artery disease (PAD), today announced that John B. Simpson, PhD, MD, founder and Executive Chairman of Avinger, will be leaving the Company to pursue other opportunities. Concurrent with Dr. Simpson’s departure, James G. Cullen has been appointed non-executive Chairman of the Board. 

“Avinger has benefited significantly from Dr. Simpson’s clinical expertise and guidance over the last ten years as we have developed and introduced our suite of peripheral vascular products, and we join patients and physicians in thanking him for his many contributions to Avinger and the interventional cardiology industry more broadly over the last several decades,” said Jeff Soinski, Avinger’s president and CEO. “We are delighted that Jim Cullen has agreed to expand his board leadership role at Avinger, and look forward to continuing to benefit from his exceptional strategic and operational expertise. With strong R&D leadership in place and continued engagement with our physician users and clinical thought leaders, we are well-positioned to continue to advance our Lumivascular technology and are excited about the anticipated launch of our next generation products in 2018.”

Mr. Cullen has been on Avinger’s Board of Directors since December 2014 and has been its Lead Independent Director since January 2015. He served as a director of Johnson & Johnson from 1995 until 2015, and was Presiding Director of the Johnson & Johnson board from 2003 to 2012. Mr. Cullen currently serves as a director of Agilent Technologies and Keysight Technologies, an electronic measurement spin-off from Agilent. He served as Agilent’s non-executive Chairman of the Board from 2005 until March 2017. Mr. Cullen was non-executive Chairman of the Board of Neustar, Inc. from 2010 until its acquisition earlier in 2017. He is also a past director and member of the investment and finance committees of Prudential Financial, Inc. In 2000, Mr. Cullen retired as President, Chief Operating Officer and Vice Chairman of Bell Atlantic Corporation (now Verizon), positions he held since 1993.

About Avinger, Inc.
Avinger is a commercial-stage medical device company that designs and develops the first-ever image-guided, catheter-based system that diagnoses and treats patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD). Avinger is dedicated to radically changing the way vascular disease is treated through its Lumivascular platform, which currently consists of the Lightbox imaging console, the Ocelot family of chronic total occlusion (CTO) catheters, and the Pantheris^® family of atherectomy devices. Avinger is based in Redwood City, CA. For more information, please visit www.avinger.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
This news 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 the launch of next generation products. 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 our dependency on a limited number of products; our ability to demonstrate the benefits of our Lumivascular platform; the resource requirements related to Pantheris; the outcome of clinical trial results; potential exposure to third-party product liability, intellectual property and other litigation; lack of long-term data demonstrating the safety and efficacy of our Lumivascular platform products; reliance on third-party vendors; dependency on physician adoption; reliance on key personnel; and requirements to obtain regulatory approval to commercialize our products; as well as the other risks described in the section entitled “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in our quarterly Form 10-Q filing made with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 14, 2017. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof and should not be unduly relied upon. Avinger disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

INVESTOR CONTACT

Matt Ferguson
Avinger, Inc.
(650) 241-7917
ir@avinger.com