TORONTO & BOSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–BIONIK Laboratories Corp. (OTCQB: BNKL), a robotics company focused on providing rehabilitation and assistive technology solutions to individuals with neurological and mobility challenges from hospital to home, today announced the hiring of a new Regional Sales Director, Tony Bellofatto.
Bellofatto is an award-winning Medical Device Sales Representative and Regional Director. He has more than 15 years of experience in orthopedic and neurological rehabilitation sales, serving in high-level positions at leading medical device companies such as DJO Global, ReWalk Robotic, and Sentinel Spine. In addition to his work in the medical device field, Tony has also served as a U.S. Olympic Strength Coach.
“I’m thrilled to join BIONIK to bring their life-changing technologies to more stroke patients across the country,” said Tony Bellofatto, Regional Sales Director at BIONIK. “My career has always placed an emphasis on the care of others, and BIONIK continues to transform the neurorecovery journey for patients around the globe. I’m ready to join the Company in its mission to drive positive patient outcomes.”
Bellofatto will drive the Company’s renewed commitment to serving the areas across the country with a higher incidence of stroke – those in the nation’s ‘Stroke Belt’, a collection of states recognized by public health officials for having a higher incidence of stroke within its population. The states in which BIONIK seeks to identify new partnerships include Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, and Arkansas. These states are where Americans are 34% more likely to suffer a stroke, according to Stroke, an AHA Journal. Extending beyond these Southeastern states, BIONIK will also look further south and west at Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico and Florida.
“BIONIK welcomes Tony Bellofatto to our team to lead efforts to bring our InMotion Robotic Therapy Systems to the very regions of the U.S. which we believe could most benefit from its advanced technology, that is backed by twenty five years of research and more than 150 independent peer-reviewed publications,” said Richard Russo, Jr., Chief Financial Officer and interim Chief Executive Officer of BIONIK. “Tony’s deep experience within the medical device and medical technology industries positions him well to take on this initiative, and we’re excited to have him lead these efforts.”
BIONIK’s fleet of InMotion® Robots for rehabilitation following stroke and other neurological conditions help patients to regain arm and hand movement by training shoulder protraction/retraction, flexion/extension, abduction/adduction, internal/external rotation, elbow flexion/extension and hand grasp/release. Where a conventional therapy session will accomplish 30-60 movements in one hour, BIONIK’s InMotion devices can achieve 600 – 1,000 movements per hour with the supervision of a therapist. Each movement is recorded to allow the therapist to see even the smallest improvement that may be invisible to the human eye. The increase in the quality and quantity of movements completed during a physical therapy session on the InMotion Robots helps to build neuroplasticity, allowing stroke patients to regain lost motor functions.
About BIONIK Laboratories Corp.
BIONIK Laboratories is a robotics company focused on providing rehabilitation and mobility solutions to individuals with neurological and mobility challenges from hospital to home. The Company has a portfolio of products focused on upper and lower extremity rehabilitation for stroke and other mobility-impaired patients, including three products on the market and two products in varying stages of development.
For more information, please visit www.BIONIKlabs.com and connect with us on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
