LoneStar Heart Inc. Names Andrew J. Coats, M.D., and Mark Maciejewski to Its Board of Directors

LAGUNA HILLS, Calif., Jan. 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- LoneStar Heart Inc., based here, today announced that it has elected Andrew J. Coats, M.D., and Mark Maciejewski to the company's board of directors. The new members join Olav B. Bergheim, chairman of the board for LoneStar Heart; Frank Ahmann, the company's president and chief oper­ating officer; Raymond W. Cohen, chief executive officer of Vessix Vascular, Inc.; and Eric N. Olson, Ph.D., professor and chairman of the department of molecular biology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas (UTSW), and LoneStar Heart's scientific co-founder and board observer.

"Dr. Coats is a renowned medical researcher, practitioner, and world-class busi­ness professional in the field of cardiac medicine," said Olav B. Bergheim, chairman of LoneStar Heart. "Together with Mark Maciejewski's broad expertise in developing Asian medical markets, their high caliber of experience and leadership will be invaluable as LoneStar Heart advances its broad portfolio of products to treat heart failure."

Dr. Coats, 53, is a scientific founder and founding board member of Myotec Therapeutics Ltd. He trained in medicine at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and holds higher doctorates from Oxford and Imperial College, and an M.B.A. from the London Business School. He was the first Viscount Royston Professor at the National Heart and Lung Institute, becoming director of cardiology at the Royal Brompton Hospital, and then associate medical director of the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Trust. He was then dean of medicine at the University of Sydney, becoming deputy vice chancellor in 2006. He is editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Cardiology and has more than 1,000 publications, including 450 full papers in peer-reviewed journals and more than 35,000 career citations. Dr. Coats has served as the chairman or steer­ing committee member for many major morbidity/mortality trials. He has received the Linacre Medal of the Royal College of Physicians and gave the Inaugural Michael L. Pollock Memorial Lecture of the American Heart Association. In 2010, Dr. Coats was appointed the Norwich Research Park Professor-at-Large, University of East Anglia.

Mark Maciejewski, 56, is president and chief executive officer of Sinnomedical, L.L.C., a China-based company creating strategic partnerships with U.S. companies to transfer new medical technologies to China. He also serves as senior vice president of international investments at the National Technology Enterprise Co. of the Kuwait Investment Authority. Prior to that, he founded numerous medical companies, was a managing director of U.S. Surgical-Tyco Healthcare, and served as president and chief executive officer of Angioguard, a company acquired by Cordis in 1999. Mr. Maciejewski holds an M.B.A. from the University of Saint Thomas, an M.S. in biochem­istry from Wright State University, and a biomedical engineering degree from the University of Dayton.

LoneStar Heart Inc.

LoneStar Heart Inc. is developing cardiac restorative therapies for patients with heart failure that harness the heart's ability to repair itself. Based on its integrated cardiomechanical and biomolecular technologies, the privately held company is advanc­ing a broad portfolio of products to restore the failing heart's structure and function in collaboration with the Texas Heart Institute, the UTSW, and a global network of leading clinicians. These products include Algisyl-LVR™, cardiac stem-cell modulators, and cellular and genetic therapies delivered as stand-alone treatments, or in combination with the company's proprietary biopolymer matrix system.

LoneStar Heart's lead product, Algisyl-LVR, is a single-use, self-gelling biopolymer implanted into the heart's left ventricle during surgery. Providing internal tissue support, Algisyl-LVR is aimed at preventing the progression of heart failure and restoring the heart's normal structure and function with a significant improvement in the patient's quality of life. Classified as a medical device, the product is undergoing a randomized controlled clinical study (AUGMENT-HF) in Europe to evaluate its safety and efficacy in patients with advanced heart failure.

SOURCE LoneStar Heart Inc.