Aleva Neurotherapeutics SA has announced the appointment of two commercialization specialists to its senior management team.
LAUSANNE, Switzerland, April 24, 2018 – Aleva Neurotherapeutics SA, a leading developer of implants for Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) in major neurological indications such as Parkinson’s Disease and Essential Tremor, has announced the appointment of two commercialization specialists to its senior management team.
Jeffery B. Jump has joined the Aleva Board as Chairman. He has nearly 40 years’ experience in the healthcare industry, including 15 years at Board level with PneumRx, Symetis, Veryan, Impulse Dynamics, and Benechill. He is currently Chairman of Medalliance, Combioxin and Manli Cardiology. His specific areas of expertise are product commercialisation, licensing, and Mergers & Acquisitions in the healthcare sector. Jeffrey spent some 13 years working for medical device company Biosensors, latterly as CEO. During his time at Biosensors the company grew from start-up to become the fourth largest supplier of cardiac stents in the world.
“I am very excited to be joining the Board of Aleva, a company with the potential to revolutionise the treatment of devastating neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s Disease”, Jeffrey commented.
Peter Bergsma has joined Aleva as Director of Commercialization. He will lead the company’s ‘Go to Market’ strategy and will initially focus on obtaining commitment from key implantation centers in the DACH (Germany; Austria; Switzerland) region. These centers are expected to conduct their first Aleva implantations during early 2019, with subsequent commercial roll-out across other EU countries.
Peter has a background in clinical neurophysiology and business development and during his 27-year career in the medical device industry has held various strategic sales/marketing and therapy development positions with Medtronic/Neurodiagnostics, Neurotech (implantable neurostimulation against epilepsy), Sorin-New Ventures (neurostimulation against heart failure) and LivaNova (neurostimulation against central sleep apnea and depression).
“Aleva and myself are a great fit due to the innovative character of this late stage start-up. I am confident that the unique selling points of our directSTIM Directional DBS lead will find a significant place in the underserved Movement Disorder market, to the benefit of many patients”, Peter commented.
“We are delighted to be able to benefit from both Jeff’s and Peter’s expertise in the medical device sector, in particular their knowledge of product commercialization”, added André Mercanzini, CEO of Aleva Neurotherapeutics. “This will help us optimize the potential for development of both directSTIM and spiderSTIM”.
About Aleva Neurotherapeutics
Aleva Neurotherapeutics develops next-generation neurostimulation technologies and devices for Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) therapy. Its solutions are designed to be more precise and more efficient than currently available DBS approaches while causing fewer side effects. Based on its proprietary microDBS™ technology, Aleva has developed two novel brain stimulating products with different properties. The first, called directSTIM™, is a complete Directional Deep Brain Stimulation System for long-term therapy in Parkinson’s Disease and Essential Tremor; the second, called spiderSTIM™, is a full solution for intra-surgical placement of DBS electrodes.
The company is a spin-off from the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) Microsystems Laboratory of Prof. Philippe Renaud. Aleva Neurotherapeutics has raised USD 42 million from renowned private and institutional investors, among them Forrestal Capital, BioMedPartners (through its BioMedInvest-II LP Fund), BB Biotech Ventures LP, Kreaxi Ventures, Kinled Holding, Initiative Capital Romandie and selected private investors.
For more information, visit: www.aleva-neuro.com
