Vesselon Announces Jurgen Raths, MD to Serve on Board of Directors

NEW YORK, Sept 23, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Vesselon, Inc. today announced the appointment of Jurgen Raths, MD to its Board of Directors, effective September 15, 2014. Dr. Raths' appointment follows Vesselon's engagement with Spencer Trask Ventures, Inc. as its placement agent to market a private preferred Series A round to facilitate development of Vesselon's immediate and early stroke treatment.

"Jurgen's deep experience across multiple functional areas of medical technology innovation will be a great asset to Vesselon as we develop our device that can be compared to an ultrasound 'automated external defibrillator (AED)' for stroke," stated Clay Larsen, President, CEO and Co-Founder of Vesselon. "We are delighted to have him come alongside us to help bring our immediate stroke treatment through clinical development and commercialization."

Dr. Raths has over 25 years of experience in the European and global pharma business, with positions held in medical, marketing, sales and general management in Europe and the USA. He is currently Associate Partner with Executive Insight, a Zurich based pharma consultancy firm, with a focus on biotech, pharma and medical device companies seeking to enter the European market. He formerly served as President and CEO of private specialty pharmaceutical company Correvio International in Geneva as well as President and CEO of publicly traded Arpida AG based in Basel, Switzerland. Dr. Raths spent eighteen years with Eli Lilly and Company in various senior executive roles including Head Critical Care Europe and Head ReoPro Europe (Abciximab). Earlier in his career at Eli Lilly he spent two years at Corporate Headquarters in Indianapolis in Health Economics and New Product Planning. Dr. Raths brings to Vesselon exceptional leadership experience in company formation, change management and global business development. His education includes the Universities of Heidelberg, Cologne and Bonn, where he earned his doctorate in medicine. 

"During my training, I served as scientific assistant in the departments of neurosurgery and experimental surgery including research in ischemic stroke and intra-extra cerebral bypass surgery," commented Dr. Raths. "Besides my professional experience touching on stroke, I am very interested and motivated to contribute to finding ways to treat stroke having had a family member impacted by this disease."

Vesselon is a development stage company that is creating one of the world's first portable devices for the immediate treatment of ischemic stroke -- the most common type of stroke affecting 87% of patients. Vesselon's product is an ultrasound device that is intended to be used by paramedics in the field, professionals trained in advanced life support skills, and physicians in hospitals to treat stroke victims early. The portable, noninvasive device is being developed to use non-imaging ultrasound, along with intravenous-administered microbubbles, to dissolve clots.

About Vesselon

Vesselon, Inc., a Spencer Trask venture, is a development stage medical device company seeking to transform ischemic stroke treatment. We are developing a new immediate treatment platform that will use non-imaging ultrasound and a contrast agent of microbubbles to dissolve clots. Just as the introduction of the AED enabled first responders to save cardiac arrest victims' lives, we believe our device could reduce treatment time from hours to minutes and have the potential to save the lives of and quality of life for ischemic stroke victims.  

About Spencer Trask Ventures 

For more than 20 years, Spencer Trask Ventures, Inc. has united investors and entrepreneurs to build valuable companies that better the world. Our clients have invested more than $1 billion in start-up companies that went on to make significant advances in healthcare, technology and life sciences.

SOURCE Vesselon, Inc.