NEWARK, N.J., April 20, 2011—Urovalve, a medical device company focused on creating superior products for urinary flow and control, announced today the appointment of Bent Johnsen as European Managing Director, effective immediately.
Mr. Johnsen has extensive experience working with large and small European medical device companies. Most recently, he was CEO of PNN Medical, a company that specializes in minimally invasive medical devices for urology. Previously, he was Corporate Sales and Marketing Director for Unomedical; Partner & Managing Director for Kunde & Co.; and held various positions with Novo Nordisk, including Vice President for U.S. Marketing and Vice President of European Sales.
“Bent will lead Urovalve’s market entry into Europe with the launch of our FolEase™ catheter projected for late-2011, followed by the launch of our Surinate® Bladder Management System projected for early-2012,” said Harvey D. Homan, Ph.D., President and CEO of Urovalve.
Urovalve has developed the patent-pending FolEase™ Catheter with Inserter System that is preassembled with a Foley catheter. The system is designed to facilitate insertion of a Foley catheter, especially for difficult situations, such as urethral strictures. FolEase™ is expected to reduce the time required for healthcare professionals to complete insertion of a Foley catheter, reduce the number of instances that require a urologist to be called in to complete an insertion, and be less expensive and simpler to use than other more invasive options that are currently employed.
Urovalve’s flagship product in development is the Surinate® Bladder Management System, designed to eliminate the need for a urine-collection bag or the discomfort and inconvenience of intermittent catheterization. Surinate® is designed with a magnetic valve inside the catheter that allows the bladder to fill and then empty only on manual control by the patient. The patient uses an external magnet to open the valve in the Surinate® catheter to drain the bladder only when he needs to. Furthermore, the Surinate® valved catheter is designed to remain in the patient for up to 30 days. Thus, with Surinate® the patient himself has total control over his bladder-emptying process.
Urovalve, Inc. (www.urovalve.com) is a privately held company located in the Enterprise Development Center at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) in Newark, New Jersey. The company develops superior medical devices to address problems associated with urinary flow and control.
