June 11, 2009 09:15 ET

Bunion Aid™ Wins Silver Medical Design Excellence Award

Product Enabling Active Lifestyle While Treating Bunion Pain Wins for Innovative Design

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - June 11, 2009) - Alpha Orthotics Corporation today announced that Bunion Aid, a new day/night flexible hinged foot splint for mild to moderate bunions, received a Silver 2009 Medical Design Excellence Award. Bunion Aid can be worn in a wide shoe during the day, which helps both women and men return to an active lifestyle. Bunion Aid is easy to apply, fits on the left or right foot and one size fits all. The Bunion Aid splint was designed and manufactured by Alpha Orthotics' parent company Hallufix AG in Munich, Germany. Bunion Aid was honored during a special ceremony at the Medical Device & Design East Exposition and Conference in New York City yesterday.

The Medical Design Excellence Awards competition is organized and presented by Canon Communications LLC (Los Angeles) and is the only awards program that exclusively recognizes contributions and advances in the design of medical products. Entries are evaluated on the basis of their design and engineering features, including innovative use of materials, user-related functions that improve healthcare delivery and change traditional medical attitudes or practices, features that provide enhanced benefits to the patient, and the ability of the product development team to overcome design and engineering challenges so that the product meets its clinical objectives.

"Bunion Aid has been honored in Europe so it feels great to receive a top award in the United States for innovative medical design," said Gaby Federal, CEO of Alpha Orthotics Corporation. "Bunion Aid is the first hinged splint of its kind that can be worn while doing activities such as walking, dancing, running or golfing."

Bunion Aid is a combination of a medical-grade plastic splint and Velcro® fastening metatarsal and toe straps. The plastic portion of the splint is hinged and fastened along the inside border of the foot with a toe and metatarsal strap. The straps and the splint provide three-point correction of the bunion deformity throughout the gait cycle. The metatarsal arch is optimally stabilized, the bunion relieved, the mal-positioning of the toe corrected and the foot brought back and held in its natural position. Bunion Aid can be purchased on the Alpha Orthotics website at http://www.alphaorthotics.com, and costs $59.95.

A comprehensive review of the entries was performed by an impartial, multidisciplinary panel of third-party jurors with expertise in biomedical engineering, human factors, industrial design, medicine, and diagnostics.

About Alpha Orthotics Corporation USA

Alpha Orthotics Corporation (http://www.alphaorthotics.com) is a wholly owned subsidiary of German Hallufix Corporation. Alpha Orthotics Corporation markets and sells patented, German-engineered non-invasive orthotics products directly to consumers and to the medical community.