Visiogen Appoints Kevin Hykes as Chief Commercial Officer

Business Wire,  May 14, 2008  

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IRVINE, Calif. -- Visiogen, Inc. has named Kevin Hykes to the position of Chief Commercial Officer, effective immediately. In this role, Mr. Hykes will be responsible for developing the global commercial plan for the Synchrony[R] dual optic accommodating intraocular lens.

Mr. Hykes brings significant medical device experience to Visiogen from his career at Medtronic, Inc., the largest medical device company in the world. In his sixteen years at Medtronic, Mr. Hykes held significant leadership positions in a number of multi-billion dollar businesses including Cardiac Rhythm Management, Neurological, and Cardiac Surgery. In these roles, he led commercialization and market development efforts for groundbreaking medical therapies including Activa Therapy for Parkinson's disease, neurostimulation for the treatment of chronic pain, Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (CRT), implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICD), and the Freestyle and Mosaic bioprosthetic heart valves.

In addition, Mr. Hykes spent four years at Medtronic's European headquarters leading sales and marketing for the Cardiopulmonary and Blood Management businesses in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. In his most recent role, Mr. Hykes served as Vice President of Medtronic's Healthcare Systems organization, reporting to the chief operating officer and sitting on both the operating and management committees of the company. Prior to joining Medtronic, Mr. Hykes spent three years as a consultant with Andersen Consulting in their Chicago office.

"We are excited to have Kevin join the Visiogen team," says Reza Zadno, President and CEO of Visiogen. "He has a successful track record of developing markets for device therapies in a wide range of clinical specialties in both the U.S. and Europe. Kevin's depth of experience and strong leadership skills make him ideally suited to lead our global commercialization efforts and having him on board will further strengthen the Visiogen leadership team."

Visiogen recently completed enrollment in their phase three multicenter clinical trial in the United States, and has numerous clinical trials underway outside the United States. The single-piece, 3-dimensional lens unfolds in the eye upon insertion, maintains physiologic capsular shape, and responds to the eye's natural mechanism of accommodation. Numerous scientific publications have demonstrated the superiority of a dual-optic design in optimizing lens accommodation. The unique dual optic lens is designed to be inserted through a 3.6 mm clear-corneal incision and is implanted by means of a unique pre-loaded injector system that eliminates the need for lens handling.

To date, the Synchrony lens has been implanted in over 1000 eyes worldwide. While the lens is currently an investigational device in the United States, it received the European CE Mark in June of 2006.

About Visiogen

Visiogen, Inc. is focused on developing innovative products for cataract and refractive patients. Founded in Irvine, California, in 2001, Visiogen's first commercial application, Synchrony[R], a 3-dimensional dual optic accommodating intraocular lens and pre-loaded injector, is currently in clinical studies in the U.S. and has received the CE Mark in Europe. More information about Visiogen and the Synchrony technology can be found at www.visiogen.com.

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