BEDFORD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cambridge Heart, Inc. (OTCBB-CAMH) today announced that as of December
15, 2006 the Board of Directors accepted the resignation of Jeffery J.
Langan as President, Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board
of Directors of the Company. The Board of Directors has appointed Robert
Khederian, the Company’s Chairman of the
Board, to serve as Interim President and Chief Executive Officer. In
addition, Ali Haghighi-Mood, PhD has been promoted to serve as Executive
Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, and Laurence Blumberg, MD, a
member of the Board of Directors, has been appointed to serve as Vice
President of Business Development.
Mr. Khederian is a significant shareholder and has served as a director
of the Company since 2002. He also has substantial experience in the
healthcare industry, both as an investor and entrepreneur. Mr. Khederian
said, “The Company has made substantial
progress in the reimbursement and clinical areas and is in the early
stages of commercial adoption. I am excited to have the opportunity to
continue to lead the Company in a more substantial role as CEO and to
help realize the value of the Company’s
Microvolt T-Wave Alternans technology.”
“The Board of Directors would like to thank
Jeff for his leadership and dedication during his years of service to
the Company and wish him and his family well,”
said Mr. Khederian.
Dr. Haghighi-Mood joined Cambridge Heart in 1997 and has served in a
variety of roles, including Director of Research and, most recently, as
the Company’s Vice President of Operations,
Research and Development.
Commenting on the appointment, Mr. Khederian said “Dr.
Haghighi-Mood has proven himself to be an outstanding leader in the
Company who has earned the respect and admiration of the Company’s
employees, customers and advisors. He has the skills and commitment to
take the Company to the next level.”
Dr. Haghighi-Mood has a deep knowledge of the Company’s
operations and technology, gained from his long tenure of service with
Cambridge Heart. Dr. Haghighi-Mood is responsible for the development of
much of the Company’s patented Microvolt
T-Wave Alternans technology as well as the development of the Company’s
current primary product - the Heartwave II System. He also has been
responsible for overseeing the Company’s
regulatory affairs and its manufacturing and service operations in
recent years.
Dr. Blumberg, a business founder of the Company and also a significant
shareholder, recently joined the Board of Directors in October 2006. “The
more I see of the clinical impact that the Company’s
technology can have on the management of patients at risk for sudden
cardiac death by facilitating the appropriate and broader use of life
saving implantable defibrillators, the more I recognize the future
potential of the Company,” said Dr. Blumberg.
Dr. Richard Cohen, the Company’s scientific
founder commented “I have worked with Dr.
Blumberg since the founding of Cambridge Heart, and he has a deep
understanding of the clinical, commercial, and strategic dynamics of our
business. He also has valuable relationships and device industry
knowledge which he will utilize to assist the Company in its future
growth. I am pleased to have Dr. Blumberg working with the Company in
this new role.”
About Cambridge Heart
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 with symptoms
of, or who are at risk of, life threatening arrhythmias who test
positive for T-wave alternans are at significant risk for subsequent
sudden cardiac events including sudden death, while those who test
negative are at minimal risk.
Statements contained in this press release about anticipated revenue
growth, and all other statements that are not purely historical, 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 customer delays in
making final buying decisions, decreased demand for our 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, failure to obtain or maintain adequate levels of third-party
reimbursement for use of our products and other factors identified in
our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K under "Factors Which May
Affect Future Results", which is on file with the SEC. 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, even if our estimates change.
