BERLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--EBS Technologies GmbH, an emerging device company developing the NEXT WAVE™ brain stimulation platform for treatment of vision deficits caused by neurological disorders, announced today that it has elected Karl Schweitzer to its Board of Directors, effective immediately.
For more than 20 years, Mr. Schweitzer has held numerous senior executive positions in the medical device industry. For the past 10 years he was with Medtronic Inc., which he joined in 2004 as Vice President Cardiac Surgery. He was promoted to Medtronic’s global leadership team for the company’s Neuromodulation division in 2008 and, in addition to this role, assumed responsibility as Vice President and International General Manager in 2009. In this capacity he directly oversaw all operations of the Neuromodulation division outside the U.S. Under his leadership the business enjoyed double-digit growth and accomplished several technological and clinical milestones in its Deep Brain Stimulation, Spinal Cord Stimulation and Targeted Drug Delivery franchises. Prior to Medtronic, Schweitzer was Vice President with Boston Scientific Corp. He recently assumed the role of President and CEO at Transform Medical LLC. Schweitzer earned his MBA from INSEAD; his JD degree from the University of Vienna; and his master’s degree in Business Informatics from Vienna University of Economic Sciences and Business Administration.
“The experience, skills sets and achievements that Karl brings to EBS Technologies are invaluable at this stage of our commercial evolution in Europe,” said Ulf Pommerening, CEO of EBS Technologies. “There is a significant unmet clinical need for treating vision impairments caused by a variety of different neurological disorders, such as neuropathy of the optic nerve, brain injury or stroke. Stroke alone is the world’s third-leading cause of death as well as the leading cause of long-term disability. There are more than 10 million stroke survivors with long-term disability in Europe and the U.S. Three out of five of these disabled persons are potentially treatable with our NEXT WAVE™ therapy.”
Earlier this month, EBS announced that Charité Berlin, one of the largest university hospitals in Europe, has successfully treated its first patient with the EBS NEXT WAVE™ brain stimulation device designed to expand the visual field of patients with impaired vision, e.g. caused by optic nerve damage.
About NEXT WAVE™
The NEXT WAVE™
technology enables a unique and patient-centric revitalization of
selective communication paths between neurological cells, which may have
been lost due to brain injury caused by trauma, stroke or tumor
resection. The non-invasive and patented NEXT WAVE™ therapy,
which is tailored to each patient, is clinically validated to restore
vision impairment by 20 to 30 percent after brain dysfunction. In
addition, glaucoma patients have shown to benefit from the NEXT
WAVE™ technology. NOTE: NEXT WAVE™ is approved for
sale in Europe and not approved for sale or investigational use in the
U.S.
