25-Year Medical Device Veteran Brings Deep Industry, Commercialization Experience
Galway, Ireland — Vivasure Medical™, a company developing a novel bioabsorbable technology for percutaneous vessel closure, today announced the appointment of Robert (Chip) Hance to the company’s board of directors.
Hance is a 25-year veteran of the medical device industry. He is the former CEO of Creganna Medical, a private equity-backed Ireland-based supplier to the minimally invasive medical device industry, which was recently acquired by TE Connectivity. Previously, he served as an Entrepreneur in Residence at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and in multiple executive roles at Abbott including president of Abbott Vascular, president of Abbott Diabetes Care, president of Vascular Devices and divisional vice president of Abbott Diagnostics in Europe.
“I can think of no one better suited than Chip to help lead Vivasure to the next stage in its evolution,” said Gerard Brett, co-founder and CEO of Vivasure Medical. “Chip is a highly respected leader who has done much to advance innovation in our industry and to improve healthcare outcomes for patients around the world. We look forward to working closely with him as we further our mission of developing novel bioabsorbable technologies for percutaneous vessel closure.”
Hance’s appointment follows the recent completion of Vivasure’s Series C financing of €16.2M ($18.3M) to support European commercialization of the company’s PerQseal™ technology and to advance execution of a FDA regulatory study.
“I look forward to joining the Board as Vivasure advances its progress toward European market expansion and securing U.S. approval and commercialization of the company’s first product,” said Hance. “Vivasure’s closure device meets an important and growing clinical need and I am excited about the potential of this innovative technology to improve arteriotomy closure outcomes for patients.”
“On behalf of the entire Board and Vivasure’s investors, we are pleased to welcome Chip to the company’s Board of Directors,” said Bernard Collins, chairman of Vivasure’s Board of Directors. “His guidance will be invaluable as Vivasure moves toward this next stage of accelerated growth and opportunity.”
The Vivasure Closure Device is the first product from the company’s PerQseal™ technology platform, and is the only approved fully bioabsorbable, sutureless and entirely synthetic option to close large-bore arteriotomies that result from percutaneous transcatheter procedures, including transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) and endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair (EVAR). The device has been successfully evaluated in clinical studies, with patients treated in four European countries, achieving 97 percent device technical success with no major device-related complications. Long-term follow-up data has been collected to 12 months post-procedure, and CE Mark was received in January 2016. The global market for large arteriotomy closure devices is growing rapidly and is expected to be more than $500 million by 2021.
Hance holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
About Vivasure Medical
Based in Galway, Ireland, Vivasure Medical has developed a patented bioabsorbable implant platform technology for applications in vessel closure. Its first product from this PerQseal platform features a bioabsorbable implant and percutaneous delivery system, designed to close large arteriotomies. For more information visit www.vivasuremedical.com