Admedus (ASX:AHZ) has appointed Wayne Paterson as chief executive officer (CEO) for a three year term commencing immediately.
Paterson has been acting CEO for Admedus since May 2016. During this period, he has overseen a major restructure involving a substantial reduction in costs with significant increases in both revenue and profitability.
The board has unanimously determined that it is in the best interests of the Company that Paterson continues to lead the business and execute his three-year ‘Vision 20/20’ strategy.
John Seaberg, chairman, commented: “As we saw with his ‘Code Red’ restructure, Wayne is a strong leader who has the ability, energy, savvy and networks that Admedus needs to accelerate the momentum we’ve already been able to achieve during just a few months on his watch.
“He is a truly global executive with a track record of delivering above market performance across the world for two decades in the pharmaceutical/health care industry.“
Wayne Paterson
Paterson has held numerous, senior positions in multi-national pharmaceutical companies and has lived in seven countries during the past 25 years.
Throughout his career, he has been responsible for building and managing businesses throughout the world, including mergers, integrations, acquisitions and major restructures as president and CEO.
From 2005 to 2013, he held senior positions at Merck KGaA (ETR:MRK).
In his most recent role as president of Europe, Canada and Australia, he managed over $3 billion in sales with an operational budget of $500 million and was a member of the global executive board.
Background
Admedus holds assets from research and development, through clinical development as well as sales, marketing and distribution.
Its flagship product is CardioCel, which is becoming a surgeon-preferred biomaterial for heart valve repair surgeries.
CardioCel represents a disruptive technology in the $2.5 billion heart valve repair and replacement market, which is dominated by products commercialized by large medical device companies.
It is now being sold in Canada, Australia, Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa, covering 135 medical centres.
Admedus also recently received FDA 510(k) clearance to market its vascular product, VascuCel in the U.S.
Furthermore, the Admedus infusion portfolio has over 800 customers providing hospital-wide infusion solutions across the Australian and New Zealand healthcare systems.
Beyond CardioCel and infusion sales, Admedus is developing a DNA-based therapeutic vaccine for HSV-2 and HPV.