Vesalius Cardiovascular Announces Clinical Advisory Board
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, October 28, 2024 (Newswire.com) - Vesalius Cardiovascular, a medical device company developing a highly differentiated non-invasive transfemoral system for repair of degenerative mitral valve disease, a very common human heart valve disease, announced today the formation of their Clinical Advisory Board, with the anchor appointment of Dr. John G. Webb.
Dr. John Webb, a global influence in the clinical development of structural heart disease therapies, is an Interventional Cardiologist and the McLeod professor of heart valve innovation at the University of British Columbia. As director of the Centre for Heart Valve Innovation at St Paul’s and Vancouver General Hospitals in Vancouver, he leads the group that developed and first performed several of the most widely used transcatheter aortic, mitral, tricuspid and pulmonary valve procedures, has travelled to train valve groups in over 25 countries, and has approximately 800 peer-reviewed publications and books. His awards for clinical achievement include the Ethica Gruntzig Award from the European Society of Percutaneous Intervention and EuroPCR, Founder’s Award from Society of Cardiac Angiography and Interventions, Hartzler Master Operator Award from the Cardiovascular Research Foundation and TCT, Career Achievement Award from the Canadian Cardiovascular Society, and the Hugenholtz Innovation Medal from the European Society of Cardiology.
The Vesalius Transfemoral Mitral Valve repair (TMVr) System is a first-in-class solution for non-invasive treatment of degenerative mitral regurgitation (DMR), combining both components of gold standard surgical mitral valve repair, chordal replacement and annuloplasty, into their single device which is delivered to the heart through a catheter. The scope of treatable patients is predicted to be very large with their dual action device, representing significant forward progress in the mitral valve device landscape.
“The Vesalius device is brilliant,” commented Dr. Webb. “Combining chordal replacement and annuloplasty in one device is a major advance for patients with DMR, allowing clinicians to offer a surgical quality valve repair, but with the safety profile of a percutaneous procedure. This solution could address a large percentage of DMR patients, both high risk non-surgical candidates, and eventually, low risk patients who currently receive open heart surgical repair. Based upon the Company’s pre-clinical data that I have reviewed, the likelihood of clinical success is very high. And while the resulting repair is individualized and comprehensive, the standarized procedure means that after clinical maturation, this could be a 60 minute cath lab procedure.”
“We are delighted to welcome Dr. Webb to our advisory team,” stated Dr. Peter Skarsgard, co-founder, Chief Medical Officer, and Head of Cardiovascular Surgery at Vancouver General Hospital. “Among many other accomplishments, he is essentially the inventor of a safe and reproducible TAVR (transcatheter aortic valve replacement) procedure, a hugely impactful clinical advance that is now offered worldwide with the technique developed by Dr. Webb. He made the procedure adoptable and distributable. We welcome his clinical guidance as Vesalius prepares for clinical exposure in the coming months.”
Vincent Ledoux, Vesalius co-founder and CEO, commented, “This is the perfect time for Vesalius to expand our clinical advisory, as we complete our pre-clinical phase, in preparation for a planned FDA early feasibility study, and first in human procedures, early in 2025. Having walked the path of FIH procedures and regulatory approval with multiple solutions, the inputs from Dr. Webb will be invaluable.”
Vesalius was founded in 2016 with a goal to improve and simplify therapy for patients with mitral valve disease. The Company is based in Vancouver, Canada. For more information, please visit www.vesaliuscardio.com.
Source: Vesalius Cardiovascular Inc.
