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

Avinger Inc., a developer of peripheral artery disease treatments, 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, Ph.D., M.D. “The men and women of VA deserve the best. In my humble opinion, Avinger has that to offer.”
 
Avinger is a commercial-stage designer, manufacturer and seller of 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 Lumivascular platform is touted to be the only intravascular image-guided system of therapeutic catheters available. 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.
 
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 6 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. 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.