| Keynote
Address:
2020 Vision:
Building a Global MedTech Company & Sector
Steve Arless
CEO, CardioInsight Technologies
With heart disease on the rise, a venture-backed
Cleveland-based startup is working on developing the world's
first non-invasive procedure for mapping the surface of diseased
hearts, thus allowing cardiologists to provide better, more
cost-effective therapies. "Forget the first, we'd be the first
and only," the company's president, Steve Arless, told the March
OVA luncheon.
CardioInsight Technologies, which springs from initial research
conducted by two research fellows at Case Western Reserve
University, is attempting to commercialize a revolutionary
technology known as electrocardiographic mapping. The technology
is used in guiding surgeons as they surgically repair arrhythmias
in patients with heart disease and attempt to resynchronize the
heart, by inducing the right and left chambers to pump more
efficiently.
The long-term goal? A safe, simple and cost-effective screening
method for sudden cardiac death. "Right now, there are 350,000
young, otherwise healthy people who drop dead every year, because
their electrical system shuts down," said Arless.
The company recently closed a funding round, and Arless said it
is also aggressively seeking funding from Ohio's Third Frontier
program. To date, there have been three peer-reviewed studies of
the technology, and human studies aimed at securing eventual FDA
approval have begun in Europe, and more recently at the Cleveland
Clinic and University Hospitals.
Arless has more than 35 years of experience in the medical
devices industry. Most recently, he served as president and CEO of
CryoCath Technologies, Inc. taking it from a start-up in 1996 to a
company recognized as one of the leading therapeutic catheter
solutions for atrial fibrillation. Worldwide sales grew to more
than $40 million, before Medtronic recently acquired the company.
In 2006, Arless was named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the
Year.
Since being recruited to CardioInsight nearly a year ago,
Arless has in turn recruited a team of prominent figures with
backgrounds in this niche. They include Dr. Harold Wodlinger, a
biomedical engineer who developed the world's first
electrophysiology recording system, as well as the former head of
quality and regulatory affairs for the CT and imaging division of
Phillips Medical.
Arless said he had learned his lesson from a mistake he made
with his earlier start-up, and would seek a commercial partner
early. In the prior start-up, he convinced his funders to turn
down a $50-million purchase offer from Johnson & Johnson, sure
that the company could do better without that money over time.
That ultimately meant he had to raise about $200 million. This
time, he said, he's already in discussion with several potential
purchasers.
More information:
Keynote Webcast:
Click on the image below to view the entire presentation as
video.
Webcast produced by Mike Sutyak, The Entrepreneurial Learning Initiative.
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