InspireMD Announces Senior Leadership Changes to Support Commercial Growth Initiatives
Announces hiring of Patrick Verta, MD, as Executive VP of Clinical and Medical Affairs
Cheryl Tal joins as VP of Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs
Shane Gleason, current General Manager of North America & VP of Global Marketing, promoted to Chief Commercial Officer
Reports Inducement Grant Under NASDAQ Listing Rule 5635(c)(4)
TEL AVIV, Israel and MIAMI, Oct. 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- InspireMD, Inc. (NASDAQ:NSPR), developer of the CGuard™ Embolic Prevention Stent System (EPS) for the prevention of stroke, today announced senior leadership additions and changes intended to support the company's commercial growth initiatives, including potential approval of the CGuard Prime stent platform in the U.S., development of new stent delivery systems, and growth in existing approved territories outside of the U.S.
The company announced today that it has hired Patrick Verta, MD, as Executive Vice President of Clinical and Medical Affairs and Cheryl Tal as Vice President of Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs. In addition, Shane Gleason, who previously served as InspireMD's General Manager of North America and VP of Global Marketing, has been promoted to Chief Commercial Officer.
Marvin Slosman, Chief Executive Officer of InspireMD, stated, "As we build toward growing our business and leadership of carotid revascularization solutions and prepare for the potential approval of the CGuard Prime carotid stent platform in the U.S., we continue to expand our leadership team to keep pace with our advancing business needs. We are attracting top-tier talent with highly relevant expertise in the field of vascular interventions capable of providing the next-level leadership needed to fully capitalize on our rapidly expanding potential."
"Patrick adds tremendous experience in the carotid field having supported much of the clinical advancement over the past 20 years, and he brings an impeccable reputation amongst the Key Opinion Leader (KOL), medical and regulatory communities. Leveraging the superior clinical data of CGuard and establishing a new standard by which clinical and patient outcomes are measured will continue to be a priority for our company. Additionally, as we advance our CGuard Prime stent platform with its enhanced CAS delivery system, develop a TCAR neuro protection system, and commence focus on the acute stroke segment, we will look to Patrick to shepherd our clinical and medical functions through each of these strategic pathways.
"Cheryl Tal joins us to lead our Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs function with tremendous expertise in building businesses' scale and capacity on a global level.
"Finally, after six months as our General Manager of North America & VP of Global Marketing, Shane Gleason has been promoted to Chief Commercial Officer, expanding his responsibilities to support our global commercial growth, including continuing to advance our plans for the launch of CGuard Prime following a potential U.S. approval in the first half of 2025.
"I am very excited to announce these additions to our leadership team and I look forward to each of their contributions," Mr. Slosman concluded.
Dr. Patrick Verta joins InspireMD from Canary Medical, a developer of implantable remote patient monitoring sensor technology and complementary data and analytics, where he served as Chief Medical Officer. Prior to that, he was Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Axelmed LLC, a consultancy focused on strategy and clinical, scientific, medical, and regulatory affairs for medical device companies. Before Axelmed, he spent the prior five years in various roles at Edwards Lifesciences, most recently as VP of Global Medical Affairs, Clinical Science and Biometrics in the Transcatheter Mitral and Tricuspid Therapies (TMTT) division. Earlier in his career, he held senior leadership positions at Sunshine Heart, Neomend, Abbott Vascular (part of Abbott) and Guidant (acquired by Abbott), among others. Dr. Verta received his Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) from Faculté de Médecine in Paris.
Cheryl Tal joins InspireMD from New Phase Ltd., where she served as Director of Regulatory Affairs. Prior to that, she served as Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance (RAQA) Manager at Change Healthcare (previously McKesson). Before that, she served as VP of Regulatory Affairs at ITGI Medical. Earlier in her career, Cheryl served in RAQA roles at Orsan Medical Technologies Ltd., Redent Nova Ltd., Galil Medical, Impliant Ltd., and A. Lapidot Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
Inducement Grant Under NASDAQ Listing Rule 5635(c)(4)
In connection with the appointment of Dr. Patrick Verta as Executive Vice President of Clinical and Medical Affairs, InspireMD has granted Dr. Verta 139,740 shares of restricted stock and stock options to purchase 46,580 shares of InspireMD's common stock. The grant of restricted stock and stock options was approved by the Compensation Committee of InspireMD's Board of Directors and was granted outside of InspireMD's 2021 Equity Compensation Plan, with a grant date of October 2, 2023, as an inducement material to Dr. Verta entering into employment with InspireMD, in accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4).
The restricted stock and stock options vest over three years, with one-third vesting on the first anniversary of the grant and the remainder vesting in two equal installments on the second and third anniversaries of the grant date, subject to Dr. Verta being continuously employed by InspireMD as of such vesting dates. The stock options have a ten-year term and an exercise price of $3.30, the closing sales price of InspireMD's common stock on the grant date.
InspireMD is providing this information in accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4).
About InspireMD, Inc.
InspireMD seeks to utilize its proprietary MicroNet® technology to make its products the industry standard for carotid stenting by providing outstanding acute results and durable, stroke-free long-term outcomes. InspireMD's common stock is quoted on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol NSPR.
We routinely post information that may be important to investors on our website. For more information, please visit www.inspiremd.com.
Forward-looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding InspireMD or its management team's expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. Such statements may be preceded by the words "intends," "may," "will," "plans," "expects," "anticipates," "projects," "predicts," "estimates," "aims," "believes," "hopes," "potential", "scheduled" or similar words. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, are based on certain assumptions and are subject to various known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the company's control, and cannot be predicted or quantified and consequently, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, risks and uncertainties associated with our history of recurring losses and negative cash flows from operating activities, significant future commitments and the uncertainty regarding the adequacy of our liquidity to pursue our complete business objectives, and substantial doubt regarding our ability to continue as a going concern; our need to raise additional capital to meet our business requirements in the future and such capital raising may be costly or difficult to obtain and could dilute out stockholders' ownership interests; market acceptance of our products; an inability to secure and maintain regulatory approvals for the sale of our products; negative clinical trial results or lengthy product delays in key markets; our ability to maintain compliance with the Nasdaq listing standards; our ability to generate revenues from our products and obtain and maintain regulatory approvals for our products; our ability to adequately protect our intellectual property; our dependence on a single manufacturing facility and our ability to comply with stringent manufacturing quality standards and to increase production as necessary; the risk that the data collected from our current and planned clinical trials may not be sufficient to demonstrate that our technology is an attractive alternative to other procedures and products; intense competition in our industry, with competitors having substantially greater financial, technological, research and development, regulatory and clinical, manufacturing, marketing and sales, distribution and personnel resources than we do; entry of new competitors and products and potential technological obsolescence of our products; inability to carry out research, development and commercialization plans; loss of a key customer or supplier; technical problems with our research and products and potential product liability claims; product malfunctions; price increases for supplies and components; insufficient or inadequate reimbursement by governmental and other third-party payers for our products; our efforts to successfully obtain and maintain intellectual property protection covering our products, which may not be successful; adverse federal, state and local government regulation, in the United States, Europe or Israel and other foreign jurisdictions; the fact that we conduct business in multiple foreign jurisdictions, exposing us to foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, logistical and communications challenges, burdens and costs of compliance with foreign laws and political and economic instability in each jurisdiction; the escalation of hostilities in Israel, which could impair our ability to manufacture our products; and current or future unfavorable economic and market conditions and adverse developments with respect to financial institutions and associated liquidity risk. More detailed information about the Company and the risk factors that may affect the realization of forward-looking statements is set forth in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K and its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Investors and security holders are urged to read these documents free of charge on the SEC's web site at http://www.sec.gov. The Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise its forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Investor Contacts:
Craig Shore
Chief Financial Officer
InspireMD, Inc.
888-776-6804
[email protected]
Chuck Padala, Managing Director
LifeSci Advisors
646-627-8390
[email protected]
[email protected]
