MediStim strengthens its commercial organization in the USA
MediStim ASA (OSE: MEDI), a Norwegian Medtech company that develops and commercializes medical equipment for use within cardiac and vascular surgery, as well as other surgical fields, announces that the company is strengthening its commercial organization in the US market.
MediStim has since 2007 been represented in the US through its own subsidiary and sales force, and has achieved a market penetration of about 10% of the total market of approximately 250.000 bypass surgery procedures performed annually.
MediStim's position in the US is strong within the "beating heart" segment of cardiac surgery, a way to perform surgery while the heart continues to beat and circulate blood, without the assistance of a heart- lung machine. However, of the total number of bypass procedures performed, only about 20% are performed in this manner. MediStim is now intensifying initiatives to gain acceptance for its quality assurance procedure also for the remaining 80% of procedures which are performed with the aid of a heart-lung machine to oxygenate the blood.
In December 2010, MediStim received clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), for its new product, the VeriQC, and is now entering an exciting phase of market introduction, not only of this new product, but of a new paradigm for quality assessment during bypass surgery: By combining the established transit time flow measurement (TTFM) technology with epiaortic ultrasound scanning (EUS), the risk of major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events will be further reduced.
Considering the large underdeveloped and accessible market combined with its new product, MediStim is in a great position to accelerate growth in the US market with the vision of achieving "standard of care" status.
The commercial strategy includes, in addition to regular sales activities, strategic collaboration with influential surgeons at leading cardiac centers and dialogue with the US medical associations. In order to strengthen our execution of these initiatives, MediStim has through its subsidiary, MediStim US Inc, hired Patrick Chuinard as Vice President, US Sales.
Patrick Chuinard has more than 20 years of experience from commercial roles within the Medtech market. He comes from one of the world's leading Medtech companies, Medtronic, and their Cardiovascular Division. During his 8 years with Medtronic he held several leadership positions within sales and marketing, including head of Global Marketing at Medtronic Endovascular. In addition, Mr. Chuinard has several years of experience from sales leadership roles, both from large (Medtronic and Cordis/Johnson & Johnson) and smaller companies (Eclipse Surgical Technologies, Bioheart and Cardiac Heart Failure). He has broad medical experience in cardiology and cardiovascular surgery as well. Mr. Chuinard is a graduate from the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York and has an MBA in Business and Finance from the University of Central Texas. The position reports to Howie Milstein, the President of MediStim's US subsidiary.
"Pat Chuinard has built a solid medical and commercial competence and experience that is a perfect match for MediStim's needs. He has an extensive network within US health care, in particular within the cardiac- and vascular field, and I am very pleased that he has chosen to come on board with us", says Kari E. Krogstad, President and CEO. "I am confident that Pat will strengthen our US team significantly, and we are all very enthusiastic about securing his capacity."
For more information, contact:
President & CEO, Kari E. Krogstad, MediStim ASA
Tel: + 47 918 38 110
Email: kari.krogstad@medistim.com
CFO Thomas Jakobsen, MediStim ASA
Tel: + 47 906 59 940
Email: thomas.jakobsen@medistim.com
President Howie Milstein, MediStim USA Inc.
Tel: + 1 612 747 7171
Email: howie.milstein@medistim.com
About MediStim
MediStim is a Norwegian Medtech company listed on Oslo Stock Exchange (OSE:MEDI). The company is the world leader within development, manufacturing and sales of medical equipment for use in quality assessment of cardiac- and vascular surgery procedures.
Cardiovascular diseases are the most common cause of death in the western world, and about 730.000 cardiac bypass surgery procedures and 600.000 vascular surgery procedures are performed globally every year. MediStim was established in 1984, and has a track record of significant growth in both revenues and results through the last 10 years. The company is a pioneer within its segment, and continues to invest in new product development.
MediStim has wholly owned subsidiaries with sales organizations in the US, Germany, Denmark and Norway, in addition to the around 50 distributors i Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa and South America.
About VeriQC
MediStim is in the process of launching its latest generation flowmeter, the VeriQC, which is a new and ground breaking concept that combines transit time blood flow measurement (TTFM) and ultrasound imaging into one system. The combination is expected to become the new standard for quality assessment during intraoperative quality assessment of cardiac and vascular surgery.
The introduction of intraoperative ultrasound imaging will make it easier to plan, execute and assure the quality of a surgical procedure, as it provides enhanced surgical precision and morphological information, and ultimately, the best possible health outcome for the patient.
For more information, visit the MediStim home page: www.medistim.com
This information is disclosed under Norwegian law (Verdipapirhandelloven §5-12).
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MediStim ASA