Community Tissue Services™ and AlloSource Partner to Create the Joint Restoration Foundation

New company will promote the benefits of joint restoration allograft tissue and increase its availability to patients nationwide

DAYTON, OH — (December 4, 2006) Community Tissue Services™, a leading non-profit provider of tissue allografts and the largest provider of skin grafts to surgeons for severe burn patients in the United States, along with AlloSource, one of the nation’s largest non-profit providers of bone and soft tissue allografts, as well as allograft skin for burn applications, today announced the formation of the Joint Restoration Foundation (JRF). The new company will be a non-profit organization focused on processing technologies and the promotion of the beneficial uses of joint restoration allograft tissue, including fresh osteochondral allografts, tendons, and meniscus.  The need for these life-enhancing allografts has grown as surgeons experience successful patient outcomes.

According to Judith E. Woll, M.D., CEO of Community Tissue Services™, “I am excited we can now provide fresh tissue allografts to surgeons and hospitals in all our locations for patients who need them. In many cases, fresh grafts allow mobility that couldn’t be accomplished with alternate grafts or prostheses.  Diane Wilson, COO of Community Tissue Services™, is the Chairman of the Board of JRF and will be responsible for leading the organization.”

 “The establishment of the Joint Restoration Foundation will expand the availability of these allografts on a national level and provide increased opportunities for recipients in our local communities,” said Pete Jenkins, newly appointed Executive Director of JRF. “We look forward to the growth and advancements that will be achieved with this partnership with CTS.”

Details regarding Joint Restoration Foundation (JRF) include:

• JRF will oversee and coordinate the efforts of partners to produce quality allografts, which will be made available to surgeons and their patients nationwide.
• The partners will fund, through JRF, Research & Development projects that enhance graft safety, provide for new tissue applications and are made available to the medical professionals and their patients.
• Consistent quality standards will be set and monitored by JRF.
• Allografts will be provided under the single JRF brand name.

About Community Tissue Services™  
Community Tissue Services™ (CTS) an independent, not-for-profit organization, is accredited by the American Association of Tissue Banks and ISO 9001:2000 Registered.  Community Tissue Services™ serves the public through recovery, processing and distribution of human tissue donations used for transplantation. Community Tissue Services™ is composed of eight regional offices and three satellite offices:  Dayton, Ohio (Corporate Office); Fort Worth, Texas; Fresno, California; Indianapolis, Indiana; Memphis, Tennessee; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Portland, Oregon; and Toledo, Ohio.  Satellite locations:  Boise, Idaho, Connersville, Indiana, and Medford, Oregon. For more information, please visit www.communitytissue.org. 

About AlloSource
Founded in 1994, Centennial, Colorado based AlloSource continues to increase the availability of high quality, safe allografts.  Showing respectful appreciation for the gift of donation, AlloSource saves and improves lives by maintaining the highest standards in recovery, processing and storage of human tissue and cells, while striving to develop new therapeutic technologies.  AlloSource provides service to the country’s most reputable non-profit organ procurement organizations that have direct input and oversight into the company’s business operations. AlloSource is accredited by the American Association of Tissue Banks.  It operates three facilities in Centennial, Salt Lake City and Cincinnati and employs over 240 people. For more information, visit www.allosource.org.

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