Cardica Appoints Christopher Littel VP, Sales and Marketing

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Oct. 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Cardica, Inc. (Nasdaq: CRDC) today named Christopher J. Littel vice president of sales and marketing. In this role, Mr. Littel will be responsible for the sales and marketing strategy and implementation for Cardica's existing cardiac surgery devices and its planned MicroCutter™ product family, Cardica's cutting and stapling devices for laparoscopic surgery.

"Chris brings experience as a successful medical device executive.  He has worked within an emerging medical technology company and has a deep understanding of the laparoscopic market and relationships with many of the key opinion leaders in this field from his time leading the Ethicon Endo-Surgery's global endoscopy marketing group," said Bernard A. Hausen, M.D., Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of Cardica. "We welcome Chris to our management team and believe his expertise will be valuable in achieving success as we look toward a selective commercial introduction for our MicroCutter product line in Europe next quarter, and, pending clearance under a 510(k) process, in the United States next year."

Mr. Littel brings more than 15 years of sales, marketing and operational experience from large and emerging medical device companies, and spent more than 15 years as a high-ranking officer in the U.S. military. Mr. Littel comes to Cardica from Neurowave Medical Technologies, Inc., where he served as vice president of marketing and business development, and was responsible for all aspects of brand strategy and marketing in addition to commercial, pipeline and other functions. Prior to Neurowave, Mr. Littel served in a variety of escalating positions at Ethicon Endo-Surgery, a division of Johnson & Johnson, most recently as the group director of global product development, endocutters. Before joining Ethicon Endo-Surgery, he served as a senior executive in the United States Army, most recently as a strategic advisor to the U.S. military representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Mr. Littel received his M.S. in international economics and international relations from Johns Hopkins University and his B.S. in engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point.

About Cardica

Cardica designs and manufactures proprietary stapling and anastomotic devices for cardiac and laparoscopic surgical procedures. Cardica's technology portfolio is intended to minimize operating time and enable minimally-invasive and robot-assisted surgeries. Cardica manufactures and markets its automated anastomosis systems, the C-Port® Distal Anastomosis Systems and PAS-Port® Proximal Anastomosis System, for coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery and has shipped over 36,000 units throughout the world. In addition, Cardica is developing the Cardica MicroCutter XPRESS™ 30, a true multi-fire laparoscopic stapling device designed to be used in a variety of procedures, including bariatric, colorectal, thoracic and general surgery. The Cardica MicroCutter products require 510(k) review and are not yet commercially available in the U.S. 

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking" statements, including all statements regarding the further development and commercialization of Cardica's MicroCutter product line and the potential approval of Cardica's MicroCutter products under a 510(k) process. Any statements contained in this press release that are not historical facts may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. The words and phrases "believe," "will be," "look toward," and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause Cardica's results to differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements, including that any future Cardica products face development, regulatory, reimbursement and manufacturing risks, as well as other risks detailed from time to time in Cardica's reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2011. Cardica expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein. You are encouraged to read Cardica's reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, available at www.sec.gov.

SOURCE Cardica, Inc.