Ohio Funds AxioMed’s New Disc (OTW)
Entrepreneurs powering Cleveland makeover (Reuters)
The State of Ohio is giving AxioMed Spine a $500,000 loan to launch its 2nd product, an artificial cervical spine disc. AxioMed has already received a $750,000 Innovation Ohio loan from the state’s Third Frontier Project in late 2007 to expand the company’s Garfield Heights testing and manufacturing floor.
“We built our manufacturing facility with a loan from the state of Ohio,” said CEO Patrick McBrayer, whose company, founded in 2001, has raised some $45 million in total, half from local sources. “I get on the soapbox, but I feel fortunate where I am.”
McBrayer is particularly proud of AxioMed’s supply chain, more than half of which is sourced within the state, and includes some legacy suppliers to the auto industry.