PARIS and SAN FRANCISCO (Jan. 2, 2014) – SpineGuard (FR0011464452 – ALSGD), an innovative medical device company focused on improving spine surgery safety, announced today that Pierre Guyot has been appointed to its Board of Directors.Mr. Guyot has served as Chief Executive Officer and Board Director of Mölnlycke Healthcare since 2007, leading the very successful development of this Swedish corporation both in terms of growth and profitability. Throughout the last seven years, Mölnlycke has steadily grown into an over €1 billion revenue company and undisputed leader in many of its markets.
“I am delighted that Pierre has accepted to join SpineGuard. Having worked with him at Boston Scientific for a number of years, I know he will bring us invaluable strategic guidance as we expand commercially and develop new clinical applications for our PediGuard technology platform,” said Pierre Jérôme, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of SpineGuard.
“I am very excited by the opportunity to join SpineGuard, a truly innovative company with a disruptive technology value proposition. I strongly believe that the PediGuard technology platform offers compelling multi-faceted benefits to both patients and health care practitioners. I look forward to adding value to the Board of Directors and contributing to the further successful development of the PediGuard platform,” said Mr. Guyot.
“We are very pleased to welcome a leader of Pierre Guyot’s caliber to the Board of SpineGuard. Pierre’s track record on successfully developing medical technology divisions and companies into dynamic growth businesses makes him an excellent addition to the SpineGuard Board. Pierre’s expertise and leadership will be incredibly beneficial to SpineGuard, our employees and our shareholders,” added Alan Olsen, Chairman of Spineguard.
About the PediGuard® Platform
Co-invented by Maurice Bourlion, Ph.D., Ciaran Bolger, M.D., Ph.D., and Alain Vanquaethem, Biomedical Engineer, PediGuard is the world’s first and only handheld device capable of alerting surgeons to potential pedicular or vertebral breaches. Real-time feedback is provided via audio and visual signals. Over 29,000 procedures have been performed with PediGuard on all continents. Several studies published in peer-reviewed medical and scientific journals have demonstrated that PediGuard detects 98% of pedicle breaches, presents an average screw placement accuracy of 97% (vs. 92% on average for navigation), provides 3-fold less pedicle perforations than with free-hand technique and a 3-fold reduction in neuro-monitoring alarms. It also limits radiation exposure by 25-30% and decreases by 15% the time for pedicle screw placement.
About SpineGuard®
Co-founded in 2009 by Pierre Jérôme and Stéphane Bette, former executives at Medtronic Sofamor-Danek and SpineVision, SpineGuard’s primary objective is to establish its FDA-cleared and CE-marked PediGuard® device as the global standard of care for safer screw placement in spine surgery. SpineGuard’s mission is to make spine surgery safer. The company has offices in San Francisco and Paris. For further information, visit www.spineguard.com.