Conformis Expands Executive Team with Addition of Medical Device Industry Veterans
With More than 1100 Procedures To-Date, Conformis Continues To Gain Momentum In the Orthopedics Market
Burlington, Mass.— March 30, 2009— Conformis, Inc., a medical device company that develops and commercializes patient-specific solutions for the treatment of osteoarthritis and joint damage, today announced the addition of two medical device veterans to the company’s executive management team. Robert (Bob) Phelps has been appointed as Senior Vice President of Sales. David Cerveny, JD has been appointed Vice President of Intellectual Property & General Counsel.
The recent additions to the executive management team are designed to support Conformis’ continued momentum and growth as it enters its next stage of commercialization. “With the introduction of the iUni® unicompartmental and iDuo® bicompartmental knee resurfacingimplants, we have seen a strong and accelerating interest in our technologies with over 250 active surgeons,” said Dr. Philipp Lang, CEO of Conformis, Inc. “Bob Phelps and David Cerveny enable us to strengthen our unique position within the orthopedic industry as the only company offering an entirely patient-specific approach to the knee replacement market.”
Bob Phelps joins Conformis with more than 25 years of medical device sales, distribution, marketing and business development experience. Most recently, Bob served as the Vice-President of Corporate Distribution at Biomet focusing on commercial execution strategies across the strategic business units. Prior to this role, he was Senior Vice-President of Sales for Biomet’s BTBS (EBI) division involved with spine, trauma, osteo-biologics and sports medicine products. Bob also served as Area Vice-President for the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions in the joint reconstruction franchise.
Before Biomet, Bob was the Vice-President of Sales & Marketing at Biosphere Medical, an early stage company, where he helped establish the use of microsphere technology with interventional radiologists and neuroradiologists. At Johnson & Johnson, where he began his career, Bob held various senior executive roles including Vice-President of Group Contracting and Vice-President of Sales for the orthopedic business (now DePuy).
David Cerveny brings more than a decade of experience in medical devices and intellectual property to his role as Vice President of Intellectual Property & General Counsel for Conformis. David will be assuming the responsibility of managing Conformis’ legal affairs as well as expanding the company’s intellectual property portfolio and patent strategy.
Prior to joining Conformis, David was the Chief Intellectual Property Counsel for Palomar Medical Technologies, where he managed a patent portfolio widely regarded as the strongest in that industry. Before Palomar, David was a senior attorney in the intellectual property practice at Proskauer Rose LLP and a partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP. He earned a J.D. from Boston College Law School, and was twice named a Massachusetts Super Lawyers rising star.
About Conformis, Inc.
Conformis, Inc. is a privately held company incorporated in 2004 that develops and commercializes medical devices for the treatment of osteoarthritis and joint damage. The Company’s novel and scalable ‘image-to-implant’ process is comprised of two related technology platforms. iFit® Technology enables the creation of conforming, patient-specific implants that are precisely sized and shaped to match the 3D topography of the patient’s anatomic bone surfaces. The iJig® Instrumentation enables the creation of novel disposable instrumentation that radically simplifies and improves the surgical process.
Both platforms are supported by proprietary intellectual property, including more than 250 patents and patent applications that span a range of technologies including imaging software, image processing, implant design, surgical techniques, instrumentation, and manufacturing.
To date, Conformis has developed a comprehensive line of minimally traumatic, bone and cartilage-preserving knee implants and instrumentation designed to address all stages of osteoarthritis, the most common reason for knee replacement surgery. Each of these devices has been cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration for marketing in the U.S.
