NEW HOPE, Pa., Oct. 09, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Orchestra BioMed, Inc. (“Orchestra BioMed” or the “Company”), a biomedical innovation company developing transformational therapeutic devices targeting major medical conditions, announced today the appointment of three new members to its Strategic Advisory Board (“SAB”). Joining the Company’s SAB is Gary J. Pruden, former Worldwide Chairman for Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices Group; Eric A. Rose, M.D., Executive Chairman of SIGA Technologies (Nasdaq: SIGA) and world-renowned cardiac surgeon and scientist; and Jason Aryeh, a life sciences investment fund manager and pharmaceutical industry expert who serves on the Board of Directors of Ligand Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: LGND).
“Our core business objective is to fully realize the clinical and commercial value of our high impact, evidence-based product innovations through strategic collaborations with established market leaders. Our Strategic Advisory Board is a key extension of Orchestra’s knowledge, perspective and relationships with the medical device and biopharma industries. We are honored to welcome these distinguished individuals to the ranks of an already outstanding group,” stated David Hochman, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Orchestra BioMed. “We firmly believe that the experience and expertise that Gary, Eric and Jason have amassed over the course of their careers will be essential to our near- and long-term success as we execute on our development plans of our portfolio, specifically Virtue® SEB and BackBeat® CNT, two products that have the potential to address significant unmet medical needs in cardiovascular disease and hypertension.”
“I am honored and excited to work with Orchestra BioMed’s exceptional executives and esteemed board of advisors,” said Mr. Aryeh. “Orchestra’s late-stage programs, Virtue® SEB and BackBeat® CNT, have the potential to save many lives, offer profound health economic benefits, and be transformational and disruptive in two of the largest, most established medical device markets. I look forward to bringing my perspective, particularly my strategically relevant experience from Ligand, to Orchestra’s cutting-edge innovation, strategic partnering and high-margin, cash flow focused business model.”
New Strategic Advisor Biographies
Gary Pruden is a proven industry leader with a broad background in technology and pharmaceutical innovation and M&A transactions. Over the course of his 32-year career at Johnson and Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), Mr. Pruden held numerous senior leadership positions across both the medical devices and pharmaceutical sectors. As the Worldwide Chairman of the Medical Device group, he led a global business where new technologies, global expansion and focus on the patient were keys to success. He currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Motus GI Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: MOTS), an Orchestra-founded company. During his career at J&J, Mr. Pruden led a large global business with a significant portion of sales coming from outside of the United States including a strong focus on emerging markets. During his time at J&J, Mr. Pruden also helped lead the strategic collaboration with Google that was established for the advancement of surgical robotics. He has extensive experience in portfolio management including two large divestitures (Cordis Corporation and Codman Neurosurgery) and exits of non-strategic businesses, quality and compliance, as well as global regulatory experience. Additionally, Mr. Pruden serves as an Independent Director of Lantheus Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: LNTH).
Eric A. Rose, M.D. is a world-renowned innovative surgeon and scientist, best known for making history in 1984 when he performed the landmark achievement of the first successful pediatric heart transplant. Over the course of his career, he has continued to study and improve cardiac surgical care in children and adults. He currently serves as the Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of SIGA Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: SIGA), a commercial-stage pharmaceutical company focused on serious unmet medical needs and biothreats. Previously, he had served as Chairman and CEO of SIGA. Dr. Rose chaired the Department of Health Evidence & Policy at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine from 2008 to 2012. From 1994 through 2007, he served as Chairman of the Department of Surgery and Surgeon-in-Chief of the Columbia Presbyterian Center of New York Presbyterian Hospital. In addition to his roles at SIGA, Dr. Rose holds a position as Executive Vice President – Life Sciences at MacAndrews & Forbes Incorporated, the holding company of Ronald O. Perelman and a related party to SIGA. In 2010, Dr. Rose became a director of Abiomed, Inc. (Nasdaq: ABMD), a leading provider of medical devices that provide circulatory support. In April 2013, he became a director for Mesoblast Inc. (Nasdaq: MESO), an advanced cellular medicine company, where he serves as Chairman of the Scientific and Technology Committee. Over the course of his career, Dr. Rose has authored or co-authored more than 300 peer-reviewed publications on topics such as cardiovascular surgery, ventricular assist devices, and cardiac transplantation, and he is the author of two books: Management of End-Stage Heart Disease and Second Opinion: The Columbia Presbyterian Guide to Surgery. Throughout his career, he has been involved in grants totaling more than $25 million in funding, including, a large National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute project, the Human Biology of Long-Term Mechanical Circulatory Support.
Jason Aryeh is a life sciences investment fund manager and pharmaceutical industry expert with over twenty years of equity investment experience in the life sciences sector. Mr. Aryeh is the Founder and managing General Partner of JALAA Equities, LP, a private hedge fund focused on the biotechnology and medical device sectors and has served in such capacity since 1997. He has also served as a member of the Board of Directors of Ligand Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: LGND), a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing or acquiring technologies that help pharmaceutical companies discover and develop medicines and has served as Ligand’s Chairman of its Nominating and Governance Committee since September 2006. Mr. Aryeh is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Accreditation Council for Medical Affairs (ACMA), an internationally recognized accrediting body which focuses on properly educating, training and credentialing pharmaceutical and medical device industry sales representatives and medical science liaisons. As a shareholder-focused advocate, Mr. Aryeh has served on ten corporate or charitable foundation boards.
Existing Strategic Advisory Board Members
John R. Barr has spent his career in medical devices and most recently served as Chief Executive Officer at Surgical Specialties Inc., a privately held medical device firm specializing in wound closure and surgical knives that was sold to a private equity investor group in March 2017. Prior to that, he served as Executive Vice President and President of Global Surgical at Bausch & Lomb Holdings Incorporated until its acquisition by Valeant Pharmaceuticals in August 2013.
Eric S. Fain, M.D. is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Procyrion, a company focused on the treatment of heart failure through the development of a safe and innovative percutaneous mechanical circulatory support (pMCS) device. He is the former Senior Vice President and Group President, Cardiovascular and Neuromodulation at Abbott following its acquisition of St. Jude Medical. Dr. Fain became Group President of St. Jude Medical in 2014 where he was responsible for global sales, marketing and clinical affairs across the entire St. Jude Medical portfolio worldwide.
David Pacitti is President of Siemens Medical Solutions, Inc. and Head of Siemens Healthineers North America. Mr. Pacitti is responsible for leading the marketing, sales, service, and support functions in the U.S., with additional oversight of Canada, across the entire Healthcare portfolio, including medical imaging, laboratory diagnostics, therapy solutions, and services. Prior to joining Siemens in 2015 in his current role, Mr. Pacitti was Division Vice President of U.S. Commercial Operations, Sales, and Marketing at Abbott Vascular for two years, overseeing the company’s business in North America.
Louis Shapiro is President and CEO of Hospital for Special Surgery (“HSS”). He has served in this role since October 2006, overseeing all strategic and operational aspects of HSS and fulfilling its mission to advance the field of musculoskeletal medicine through world-class patient care, research and education. Under Mr. Shapiro’s leadership, HSS has experienced significant growth, expansion of facilities and recognition as the world leader in its specialty areas of orthopedics, rheumatology and their related disciplines. Mr. Shapiro has more than 30 years of healthcare experience, including as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Geisinger Health System in Pennsylvania, and as a leader in the healthcare practice at McKinsey & Company.
About Orchestra BioMed™
Orchestra BioMed, Inc. is a biomedical innovation company focused on developing high impact, high value, evidence based therapeutic solutions for medical procedures that address major medical conditions, such as cardiovascular disease and hypertension, that affect large patient populations and drive a significant portion of healthcare costs. Orchestra BioMed’s business strategy is to leverage partnerships with established global market leaders to optimize the clinical impact and commercial value of its products. Orchestra BioMed expects to generate long-term, high margin cash flow from royalties, revenue sharing, and licensing and development payments from strategic partners that secure commercial rights to Orchestra BioMed-developed products. Orchestra BioMed’s core innovation and development expertise is in the areas of drug delivery, interventional devices, bioelectronics and neuromodulation. The Company’s lead cardiovascular therapies, which were developed from concept stage by Orchestra BioMed’s wholly-owned subsidiaries, are highly proprietary and have demonstrated promising clinical results in addressing specific high-need patient populations with artery disease and hypertension. The Virtue® Sirolimus-Eluting Balloon (SEB), is a novel, first in-class device that delivers delayed-release bioabsorbable particle encapsulated Sirolimus, the proven gold-standard drug for preventing restenosis of treated arteries, to the vessel wall during balloon angioplasty without the need for a permanent implant. BackBeat® Cardiac Neuromodulation Therapy (CNT), is a patented implantable cardiac stimulation-based treatment for hypertension that immediately and substantially lowers blood pressure while simultaneously modulating autonomic nervous system responses that normally drive and maintain blood pressure higher.
Forward Looking Statements
Some of the statements made herein constitute forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future financial and other performance or anticipated plans and are identified by words such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “could,” “scheduled,” “plan,” “intend,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “potential,” “propose” and “continue” or negative variants of such terms. These and similar forward-looking statements discuss the Company’s future expectations and plans. The Company operates in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risks emerge from time to time. Given these risks and uncertainties, the Company cautions against placing undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. These statements are only estimates of future performance. Actual performance or events may not meet such expectations or estimates and may, in fact, differ materially.
Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements made herein are reasonable, the Company cannot and does not guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Moreover, the Company does not assume any responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of such forward-looking statements in the future. The Company does not plan and, subject to applicable law, undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements made herein after the date hereof in order to conform such statements to actual results.
Investor and Media Contact:
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Jenene Thomas
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Source: Orchestra BioMed, Inc.
