Cambridge Heart, Inc. (OTCBB: CAMH) announced today that the Board of Directors has promoted Ali Haghighi-Mood, Ph.D., to the position of Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Haghighi-Mood replaces Chairman Robert P. Khederian, who has served as interim President and CEO since November 2006. In addition, Dr. Haghighi-Mood has also been elected to serve as a member of the Board of Directors. Dr. Haghighi-Mood is the inventor of Cambridge Heart’s proprietary Analytic Spectral Method for measuring T-Wave Alternans, the technology central to the Company’s HearTwave® II Microvolt T-Wave Alternans System.
Dr. Haghighi-Mood joined Cambridge Heart in 1997 as a research scientist and has since held a number of key positions within the company. Most recently, he has served as Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Technology Officer since December 2006. Previously, from 2003 until 2006, he served as Vice President of Research and Development.
“Ali has been the visionary architect of Cambridge Heart’s research and development program and has emerged as the driving force in the Company’s operations and strategic planning,” stated Mr. Khederian. “During the course of the CEO search, the Board evaluated many excellent candidates. Dr. Haghighi-Mood emerged as our top choice to lead the Company into the future. We recognized that Cambridge Heart needed a respected executive, well-versed in our technology with strong contacts amongst the Key Opinion Leaders in the fields of electrophysiology and cardiology. The most important near-term goal is to build on the St. Jude Medical relationship, thereby creating additional value for the Company’s customer base, shareholders and employees. Ali’s proven leadership and knowledge of the CRM space, as well as the respect he has earned from the Company's employees, customers and partners, makes him the best choice to lead Cambridge Heart.”
“I accept the position of CEO with a personal appreciation of what Cambridge Heart has achieved in the last decade, and a clear vision of the challenges that lie ahead. I believe that Microvolt T-Wave Alternans testing plays a vital role in the prevention of sudden cardiac death by identifying which patients are at high or low risk. I believe we can expand the reach and applicability of this valuable technology,” stated Dr. Ali Haghighi-Mood. “I would like to thank Bob for the contributions he made to Cambridge Heart as our interim Chief Executive, and I look forward to working with him in his Chairmanship role.”
Dr. Haghighi-Mood holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Tehran and a Ph.D. degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Sussex, UK.
About Cambridge Heart, Inc.
Cambridge Heart (www.cambridgeheart.com) is engaged in the development and commercialization of products for the non-invasive diagnosis of cardiac disease, particularly the identification of those at risk of sudden cardiac arrest. The Company's products incorporate its proprietary Microvolt T-Wave Alternans measurement technologies, coupled with its patented Spectral Analytic Method and ultra-sensitive disposable electrode sensors. Only Spectral Analytic Method MTWA tests are reimbursed by Medicare under its National Coverage Policy that covers patients with a wide variety of cardiac symptoms. Other major insurers in the USA also have coverage policies for the test. The T-Wave Alternans test is included in the Guideline for Management of Patients with Ventricular Arrhythmias and the Prevention of Sudden Cardiac Death jointly developed by the American College of Cardiology (ACC), The American Heart Association (AHA) and the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). The Company, founded in 1990, is based in Bedford, Massachusetts and is traded on the OTCBB under the symbol CAMH.
About the Cambridge Heart Microvolt T-Wave Alternans Test
The Cambridge Heart Microvolt T-Wave Alternans Test measures a specific extremely subtle pattern of beat-to-beat fluctuations in a person's electrocardiogram. This pattern of fluctuations is called T-wave alternans. These tiny variations in the electrocardiogram - measured at one millionth of a volt accuracy – are most commonly measured during a sub-maximal exercise stress test in the doctor’s office or hospital outpatient setting. The preparation for the test consists of placing proprietary sensors on the patient's chest. Extensive clinical research has shown that those patients who are at risk of ventricular tachyarrhythmia that test positive for microvolt T-wave alternans are at increased risk for sudden cardiac death, while those who test negative are at reduced risk.
Statements contained in this press release are forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, we use words such as “believes”, “expects”, “anticipates”, “plans”, “estimates”, “could”, and similar expressions that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes to identify these forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause or contribute to such differences include failure to achieve broad market acceptance of the Company’s MTWA technology, failure to achieve broad market acceptance of the Company's MTWA technology, failure of our sales and marketing partner to market our products effectively, inability to hire and retain qualified clinical applications specialists in the Company's target markets, failure to obtain or maintain adequate levels of third-party reimbursement for use of the Company's MTWA test, customer delays in making final buying decisions, decreased demand for the Company's products, failure to obtain funding necessary to develop or enhance our technology, adverse results in future clinical studies of our technology, failure to obtain or maintain patent protection for our technology and other factors identified in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K under “Risk Factors”, which is on file with the SEC and available at www.EDGAR.com. In addition, any forward-looking statements represent our estimates only as of today and should not be relied upon as representing our estimates as of any subsequent date. While we may elect to update forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we specifically disclaim any obligation to do so except as may be legally necessary, even if our estimates should change.
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