Palo Alto, CA-based CardioDx, a cardiovascular genomic diagnostics company, has made two recent hires: Andrew Guggenhime as its CFO and Mark Monane as CMO.
The company had been waiting for the appropriate time to fill these positions, CEO David Levison told FierceMedicalDevices, adding that it isn't planning to make any additional major hires at this point and now is in execution mode.
Guggenhime most recently served as CFO for Calistoga Pharmaceuticals, which was acquired in April by Gilead Sciences. Before that, he served in a number of positions, including senior VP and CFO for Facet Biotech. Indeed, Guggenhime's experience with public and private companies--as well as his high level of financial expertise--will serve CardioDx well, Levison told FMD.
With respect to Monane, Levison pointed to his understanding of the inter-relations between the producer, payers and doctors as a major boon for the company. In addition to being a Harvard professor, Monane was managing director of equity research at Needham & Company for 11 years, focusing on analyses of emerging biotech companies in the cardiovascular and cancer areas. He also once held the position of senior director of medical policy and practices at Medco Health Solutions.
Earlier this year, CardioDx scored $60 million in venture funding, which will be used to expand reimbursement coverage in the U.S. for Corus CAD, its blood-based gene expression test for obstructive coronary artery disease, and to continue development of future products in the field of cardiovascular genomic diagnostics. Its haul placed it in the number three spot for FMD's top venture capital deals for the first half of 2011.
The Corus CAD gene expression test has been used in nearly 20,000 patients to assess whether their symptoms are due to obstructive coronary artery disease, according to the company. The test provides information that aids doctors make better decisions, helps patients avoid unnecessary procedures and radiation exposure and allows payers to address a major expense category.
- see the CardioDx release
Special Report: Top 10 medical device venture capital deals, H1 2011