IlluminOss leadership change reflects direction of company

PROVIDENCE – The recent change in leadership at IlluminOss Medical, a commercial stage medical device company focused on minimally invasive orthopedic fracture repair, reflects its changing direction, according to those familiar with the company.
Former CEO and president Dirk Kuyper quietly left the Slater Technology Fund-backed IlluminOss in September, representing yet another change in leadership at the company in recent years.
Kuyper was hired in April 2013 after the departure of Scott Rader, whose position with the company ended in late October 2012; he was hired in June 2010. Rader had said the company wanted a CEO with more sales and marketing experience. Kuyper had significant experience in medical devices, as well as European sales and marketing, and IlluminOss at the time was concentrating on its European efforts.
Once IlluminOss received a favorable ruling from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to begin its clinical trials of its technology, that shifted the company’s focus back to the United States, changing its leadership focus, an official familiar with the company said.
Meanwhile, founder Robert Rabiner has taken over as CEO and president while a search is under way to find someone to fill the position.
Rabiner, in a statement, said 2014 has been a critical year for the company, noting strides made in international markets.
Rabiner had this to say about the departure of Kuyper:
“As we continue to grow and evolve as a company, it has been important to build the right strategic team that shares our vision and has the right skillset to further our goal of making IlluminOss’ approach to fracture repair a game changer in how orthopedic surgery will be performed worldwide. This has required some transitions amongst our staff, as is to be expected.”

The company recently received conditional approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to conduct a clinical trial in the United States for the treatment of impending and pathologic fractures in the humerus due to metastatic carcinoma. This treatment has been commercially available in international markets and has been in clinical use since 2010.

“Obtaining this FDA approval has been the vital first step towards ultimately applying our technology to the treatment of fractures in the U.S. and we look forward to serving this critical market,” Rabiner said in an announcement about the conditional approval in November.

In other news, lluminOss Medical recently was issued two patents related to its internal bone fixing system, bringing the number of U.S. patents to 25. Its complete intellectual property portfolio includes more than 55 issued patents in 17 countries around the world.

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Slater Technology Fund committed to a $500,000 investment in the Series C Preferred Stock financing of IlluminOss Medical, the first closing of which was announced in September two years ago. The round expanded in December 2012 to include other investors. At $34 million, it represented the largest venture capital financing for a biomedical company in Rhode Island in decades.

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