An Interview with Timothy R. Wright, CEO, MiMedx Group, Inc

“We apply a passion to our clinical and scientific research programs and are mission-driven to help people facing serious unmet clinical needs.”

Today, healthcare companies operate in a different world than they did even a few years ago. Spurred by passion for innovation, the demands of an ever-evolving and dynamic medical landscape, and, ultimately, patients, they must constantly anticipate need, developing products that healthcare providers can rely upon in order to best treat their patients. Medical technology makes the one-size-fits-all approach obsolete –companies must innovate and develop the best possible solutions to treat evolving, and potentially underserved, patient populations and fulfill unmet treatment needs. One company working toward that mission is MiMedx, a global biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Marietta, Georgia, that is focused on the development of biomaterials for soft tissue repair and advanced wound healing.

In an interview, MiMedx CEO Timothy R. Wright spoke to The Silicon Review about the work MiMedx is doing to help advance wound care.

Q. What unique value does the company bring to the market? And how did you expand your company and its offerings over the years?

Today, there are 2.9 million people with serious chronic wounds that cannot heal without advanced clinical intervention. Whether they are military veterans returning from deployment with serious injuries, or people with diabetic ulcers that will not heal despite treatment, each of these people face pain, infection risk and even amputation. Yet less than a third of them (about 30 percent) have access to advanced wound care that can potentially save their limbs and treat their pain.

The sad reality is that this patient community is vast and growing larger due to certain demographic trends, including an aging population, increasing incidence of obesity and diabetes, and the associated higher susceptibility to non-healing chronic wounds. As an industry leader in advanced wound care and an emerging therapeutic biologics company, MiMedx is dedicated to the development of proprietary human placental tissue graft products for use in the treatment of wounds and other degenerative musculoskeletal conditions. Along with investing in our current product portfolio and our future pipeline, MiMedx is committed to advancing the science of amniotic tissue, addressing patient needs earlier in the spectrum of care and demonstrating the economic value of our products. We apply a passion to our clinical and scientific research programs and are mission-driven to help people facing serious unmet clinical needs. To date, we have supplied more than 1.5 million allografts for application across multiple sectors of healthcare.

Q. There is nothing more important for a successful business than a well-defined mission. Can you explain your mission in brief?

Our responsibility is to empower doctors, nurses, and health systems in their treatment of people with acute and chronic wounds or persistent disease states by offering evidence-based solutions that can help promote healing and restore a patient’s quality of life. “Innovations in Regenerative Medicine” is the framework behind our mission to provide physicians with those products and tissues, developed to help the body heal itself. Our core purpose is to serve the customers who will use our products, and their patients – who are hoping for, and expecting, safe, high-quality, effective, and economically viable solutions that enable them to return to an active daily life and time with their loved ones.

Q. Any company, big or small, must have the sense of authenticity and originality to succeed. Is your company a leader or a follower?

Since the company’s founding, our commitment to rigorous science in the development of our pipeline reflects our responsibility to the category as a whole. The number of patients with chronic wounds that resist healing is vast and growing. MiMedx leads the industry in its foundational scientific research within the placental tissue space, as well as in its efforts toward a Biologics License Application (BLA)-regulated biopharmaceutical to treat musculoskeletal degeneration across multiple indications. As we look forward, we seek to invest in additional peer-review science that outlines how products can be used effectively and safely in the future of the category. We also recognize that companies competing in our sector are actually important allies in reaching healthcare professionals, advocacy organizations, and patient communities with unmet and evolving medical needs.

Q. What are the factors that make your brand outshine competition?

Being the best requires vision, specialization, and commitment to the future! Within our field of focus, we have a vision that requires novel, effective, and adaptable approaches. We’re also fortunate that our mission allows us to help a specialized group of patients with issues that are not widely addressed. Coupling those with our commitment to advance the sector, we can help physicians address a critical area of unmet need. That confluence of factors makes our contribution unique. Being an industry leader is a continuous effort that requires us to learn from mistakes and think differently going forward.

Q. Where do you see your company a couple of years from now?

MiMedx is laser-focused on achieving the highest possible standards in its science, products, and services, and in its support for patients seeking healing. Our solutions, both current and in development, are engineered on the philosophy of continuous improvement and close connection with clinical and regulatory bodies; they must be, as our products will only become more valuable as chronic wounds increase among an aging population and growing numbers of people diagnosed with diabetes. Our solutions are sustainable in conception and manufacture, and our model enables us to be there to serve our physician and provider partners so they can solve one of the most pernicious and pressing health problems we face today. We also learn from the past and apply these lessons going forward. We seek to be better every day so that we can secure the trust and respect of our employees, partners, customers and the community we ultimately serve: patients.

“Our responsibility is to empower doctors, nurses and health systems in their treatment of people with acute and chronic wounds or persistent disease states, by offering evidence-based solutions that can help promote healing and restore a patient’s quality of life.”