Former Cordis chairman joins board of stent start-up
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
Privately-held stent developer Svelte Medical Systems has elected Robert Croce, a former worldwide franchise chairman of Johnson & Johnson-subsidiary Cordis, to its board of directors. Mr Croce spent 36 years at Johnson & Johnson, 12 of these as company group chairman. The appointment comes after Svelte completed an extension to its series A financing. The New Providence, New Jersey firm first announced it had raised the additional $6m in December, bringing the total investment in the company to $20m (www.clinica.co.uk, 9 December 2009). Investors in the firm include CNF Investments, Apjohn Ventures, the Fischell family and Norwich Ventures. Founded in 2007, Svelte is developing its Stent-on-a-Wire system, which is described as "a low-profile, highly flexible stent system which navigates the vasculature in a similar fashion to a traditional guidewire". The company initiated European clinical trials of the device in January and is looking to CE mark the product in the middle of this year, with a drug-eluting version to follow in 2011 (www.clinica.co.uk, 11 January 2010).