MiMedx Agrees To Lawsuit Settlement With Halo Wound Solutions
MARIETTA, Ga., Nov. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — MiMedx Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: MDXG), the leading biopharmaceutical company developing and marketing regenerative and therapeutic biologics utilizing human placental tissue allografts and patent-protected processes for multiple sectors of healthcare, announced today that the Company has agreed to a confidential settlement of the lawsuit the Company filed against BioResolutions LLC d/b/a Halo Wound Solutions (Halo) and one of the Halo executives.
MiMedx filed its lawsuit against Halo and its executive, Tracy Lucas, in January 2017. In its suit, MiMedx alleged that Lucas used MiMedx trade secrets and other confidential, proprietary business information to unlawfully solicit the sales of Halo’s medical products with the assistance of MiMedx employees, and tortiously interfered with MiMedx’s contracts with its employees. Mr. Lucas is a former employee of MiMedx. MiMedx alleged that during and after Mr. Lucas’ employment with MiMedx, Halo and Mr. Lucas engaged in wrongful conduct with MiMedx employees, knowing they were actively employed by MiMedx and knowing that MiMedx employees have contractual and legal obligations to the Company.
In addition to an undisclosed monetary settlement, other settlement terms were reached. Certain of these additional settlement terms include: for a period of two years Halo will not sell amniotic tissue products, human tissue/skin substitute products to MiMedx’ existing customers; and for a two-year period, Halo will not solicit MiMedx employees to work for Halo in any fashion or to leave MiMedx’s employment. Luke Esslinger, President and CEO of Halo, stated, “I apologize that this situation arose. To our knowledge, MiMedx was not aware that its employees were selling third party products or services, including Halo products. We realize now that MiMedx firmly disapproves of its employees selling our products and that such a situation had the potential to create a conflict with the rightful obligations these employees had with their employer, MiMedx.”
Parker H. “Pete” Petit, MiMedx Chairman and CEO, said, “We are pleased to have another one of these lawsuits behind us. We have reached an amicable and favorable settlement with Halo. I applaud Halo for dealing with this in a professional manner and treating it as a learning experience for their future business activities.”
“We have been very effective in continuing our growth trajectory and sustaining our operational excellence, in spite of these corporate distractions. Our constant focus has been on growing our business for the benefit of our customers and their patients, employees and shareholders. I could not be more proud and complementary of our organization for its continued concentration on our business while these distractions are being resolved,” added Bill Taylor, MiMedx President and COO.
About MiMedx
MiMedx® is the leading biopharmaceutical company developing and marketing regenerative and therapeutic biologics utilizing human placental tissue allografts with patent-protected processes for multiple sectors of healthcare. “Innovations in Regenerative Medicine” is the framework behind our mission to give physicians products and tissues to help the body heal itself. We process the human placental tissue utilizing our proprietary PURION® Process among other processes, to produce safe and effective allografts. MiMedx proprietary processing methodology employs aseptic processing techniques in addition to terminal sterilization. MiMedx is the leading supplier of placental tissue, having supplied over 1,000,000 allografts to date for application in the Wound Care, Burn, Surgical, Orthopedic, Spine, Sports Medicine, Ophthalmic and Dental sectors of healthcare. For additional information, please visit www.mimedx.com.
Important Cautionary Statement
This press release includes forward-looking statements, including statements regarding potential outcomes of legal actions. These statements also may be identified by words such as “believe,” “except,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “will” and similar expressions, and are based on our current beliefs and expectations. Forward-looking statements are subject to significant risks and uncertainties, and we caution investors against placing undue reliance on such statements. Actual results may differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. Among the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements include the risk that different or additional facts may be discovered that change conclusions, and the risks of litigation. For more detailed information on the risks and uncertainties, please review the Risk Factors section of our most recent annual report or quarterly report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release and we assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statement.
SOURCE MiMedx Group, Inc.