The Innovation Institute LLC’s “multiple constituents” were a major factor in Boston Scientific Corp.’s move to be its inaugural medical technology partner, according to a company executive.
The La Palma-based institute’s purpose is to develop healthcare products and services, and it consists of a medical technology incubator, an investment fund, and a shared services group.
It was established in 2013 with an investment from Irvine-based St. Joseph Health. Its other three investor-owners are Children’s Hospital of Orange County in Orange; Mitchellville, Md.-based Bon Secours Health System and the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady in Baton Rouge, La.
Each of those institutions has contributed at least $10 million to become institute member-owners.
Natick, Mass.-based Boston Scientific will be working with the institute on healthcare technology and ideas to improve healthcare delivery, said Mark Toland, the device maker’s senior vice president of corporate accounts and healthcare solutions.
“We’ll be assessing innovative ideas that may relate to our products or may relate to the overarching healthcare ecosystem,” he said.
“There’s very few innovation institutes around the world that have multiple constituents, not just founding members, but also multiple healthcare systems that feed into it,” Toland said, noting that most institutes are tied to one particular hospital.
Boston Scientific, a diversified device maker, had an OC presence through its 2012 purchase of Cameron Health Inc., an implantable heart defibrillator maker that was headquartered in San Clemente. It paid $150 million in cash for Cameron, and later closed the facility.
Toland also praised the institute’s leadership team, noting that Chief Executive Joe Randolph and Larry Stofko, an executive vice president who oversees the institute’s innovation laboratory, “come from healthcare.”
Randolph is a former chief operating officer at St. Joseph Health, and Stofko was previously the hospital operator’s senior vice president and chief information officer.
“They’ve been living healthcare for their entire careers,” Toland said. “That’s a real valuable asset, because you want somebody who’s got credibility in the healthcare space.”
Possible Botox Rival Starts Trials
A Bay Area startup developer of botulinum toxin type A drug candidates whose management team includes a veteran of Orange County-based drugmakers has started a pair of clinical trials.
Newark-based Revance Therapeutics Inc. is conducting a second-phase trial using the injectable RT002 to treat cervical dystonia, a neck muscle movement disorder.
Allergan PLC’s Botox, which is based on botulinum toxin type A, can also be used on cervical dystonia.
Revance has also started a third-phase trial using its RT001 topical gel to treat crow’s feet. Revance is talking up the gel form of botulinum toxin type A as something that will be easier to administer and “that patients will be able to avoid the pain, bruising and downtime associated with needles,” said Dan Browne, its chief executive.
Revance’s management team includes an executive with Orange County ties: Lauren Silvernail, its chief financial officer, served in the same position with Irvine-based Ista Pharmaceuticals Inc., which was acquired in 2012 by Rochester, N.Y.-based Bausch & Lomb Inc.
A year later, Laval, Quebec, Canada-based Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., which unsuccessfully attempted to take over Allergan Inc. [now Allergan PLC] last year, bought Bausch.
Silvernail also spent eight years with Allergan in the 1990s and 2000s.
Device Gets European Approval
Tustin-based Uptake Medical Corp. recently received European Union clearance for its InterVapor medical device.
InterVapor uses heated water vapor to reduce lung volume in patients with severe emphysema, a chronic lung disease that causes difficulty in breathing. Uptake says the device is an alternative to relatively riskier procedures, such as surgery and implants, and toxic ones, such as radiation.
“Gaining CE mark is a major milestone for our company, but more importantly, represents new hope for emphysema patients,” said King Nelson, Uptake’s chief executive.
Uptake is launching InterVapor in Europe, where an estimated 23 million people have emphysema.
New Hospital CFO
Placentia-Linda Hospital appointed Brittany Whitaker its new chief financial officer. She replaces Chuck Natcher and reports to Chief Executive Audrey Gregory.
Whitaker was assistant chief financial officer for 762-bed Atlanta Medical Center. She holds degrees from Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C. and Wake Forest University School of Business.
Placentia-Linda has 114 beds and is owned by Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare Corp. It ranked No. 14 on the Business Journal’s most recent annual hospital list, with pretax profit of $17.6 million on net patient revenue of $88.9 million in the 12-month period ended Sept. 30, 2014, the latest period for which figures are available.
