Wright Medical Group, Inc. CVR (WMGIZ)

[fredman]

Wright Medical Group, Inc. Announces Agreement with FDA Office of Device Evaluation to File PMA Amendment for Augment® Bone Graft In Lieu of Dispute Resolution Panel

FDA Determination on Whether PMA is Approvable Expected in 3Q, 2014

MEMPHIS, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar. 10, 2014-- Wright Medical Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: WMGI) today announced it has reached an agreement with the Office of Device Evaluation (ODE) of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under which ODE will accept a further amendment to the Pre-Market Approval application (PMA) for Augment® Bone Graft in lieu of proceeding with the Dispute Resolution Panel (DRP) that was scheduled for the week of May 19, 2014. The agreement with ODE remains subject to final approval by the FDA appeal authority. That approval is expected shortly.

The PMA amendment, which the company expects to submit on or about March 31, 2014, will consist of analyses of pre-existing radiographic films of clinical study patients at pre-operative and post-operative time points. ODE has committed to an expeditious review of the PMA amendment and agreed to issue a determination on whether the PMA is approvable no later than 180 days after submission of the PMA amendment. The company intends to renew the DRP process if the PMA amendment fails to result in a reversal of ODE’s previous not approvability determination.

Commenting on this development, Robert Palmisano, president and chief executive officer, stated, “Since inception of the DRP process, Wright and ODE were encouraged by the FDA Ombudsman to continue discussing alternative ways to resolve the dispute. These discussions proceeded slowly but gathered steam in recent days as the timeline for DRP submissions grew nearer. The result is something we consider to be a good mechanism for moving forward.”

Palmisano continued, “While this development is cause for somewhat greater optimism than we have thus far had reason to embrace, it is important to reiterate that the parties’ positions are still far apart and there is no guarantee this PMA amendment will result in an approval for Augment Bone Graft. Nevertheless, we are pleased we were able to work collaboratively with FDA to identify a path forward that does not require new clinical studies to get to the next approvability determination.”

http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20140310-909836.html