EndoGastric Solutions Expands Executive Team

EndoGastric Solutions is beefing up its executive team. 

The company has added three new members to its executive ranks: Mike Zagger, vice president of Sales and Marketing; Philip Macdonald, vice president of Healthcare Economics, Policy & Reimbursement; and Adrian Lobontiu, M.D., F.A.C.S., as medical director.

“These new appointments reflect our company’s deep commitment to building a balanced commercial organization. Our objective is to provide greater access of the TIF [transoral incisionless fundoplication] procedure to the medical community and the patients they serve,” said Skip Baldino, president and CEO of EGS. “With a significant body of clinical evidence supporting the TIF procedure, multiple recent EsophyX device product clearances, and the AMA approval of a new Category 1 CPT code effective Jan. 1, 2016, we are poised to scale our business. The addition of these healthcare executives will enable us to maximize our commercialization plans and bring optimal value to the GERD medical community.”

Zagger is described by EndoGastric executives as “a seasoned professional” in the medical device and pharmaceutical industry, with nearly 30 years of domestic and international experience. He most recently was a senior vice president and general manager with St. Jude Medical Inc. During his 15-year career there, Zagger held positions of leadership in sales management, marketing, and corporate and national accounts. In addition, he was general manager of Latin America and Canada. Before joining St. Jude Medical, Zagger spent 12 years at Bayer Pharmaceutical division, where he held several roles of increasing responsibility during his tenure.

Zagger’s work experience and skill set spans the areas of field sales and senior sales management, marketing management, market development, corporate and national accounts, and clinical education and training. He began his career at the Cleveland Clinic, supporting clinical duties in cardiovascular surgery procedures. Zagger graduated from Kent State University in Ohio with a bachelor’s degree in Nursing and has an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, N.J.

Macdonald brings more than two decades of healthcare economics and reimbursement experience to the EndoGastric management team. Company bigwigs are confident his background will benefit the firm as it focuses on evolving health policy issues, payer coverage, economic outcomes data and other reimbursement-related initiatives.

Macdonald previously served as vice president of Healthcare Economics, Policy & Reimbursement at Given Imaging (now Medtronic plc). Additionally, he has worked for other medical device manufacturers including Siemens AG, St. Jude Medical and Bayer AG, and he also worked in the provider sector at HCA corporate.

Macdonald has a doctorate in Healthcare Management & Economics from the University of La Verne in California. He received his master’s degree in hospital administration as well as his bachelor’s degree in history and political science from the University of Memphis in Tennessee.

Lobontiu rejoins EndoGastric after a one year absence from the GERD marketplace. His EndoGastric career began in 2005 in Paris, France, where he managed the company’s European business. Lobontiu was based in the United States since 2012, as the medical director and managing the clinical team responsible for collecting and publishing randomized controlled trial data from RESPECT, TEMPO and TIF registry studies. To date, Lobontiu has performed or proctored more than 1,000 TIF surgical procedures.

From 1999-2005, Lobontiu was clinical director at Intuitive Surgical Europe. In that position, he led the team that secured the CE mark for the company’s surgical robot. Lobontiu’s career also includes research management roles and executive positions in the medical industry, such as Plasma Surgical in Atlanta, Ga., and Schering AG in Berlin, Germany. He practiced surgery at Henri Mondor University Hospital in Paris and a several other university hospitals in the greater Paris area.

Lobontiu is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, member of the Society of American Gastrointestinal Surgeons, member of the American Gastroenterological Association, and a member of the French Surgery Association. He also is an internationally published author and frequent guest speaker at international conferences and congresses. Lobontiu earned his medical degree from the University of Medicine Targu-Mures Medical School, and his specialty in Surgery from Pierre et Marie Curie University of Medicine in Paris, France. In 2012, he obtained the Effective Use of Power Certificate of Stanford Executive Program from Stanford Graduate School of Business in California.

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a chronic condition in which the gastroesophageal valve (GEV) allows gastric contents to wash back up into the esophagus, causing heartburn and possible injury to the esophageal lining. The stomach produces hydrochloric acid and other digestive enzymes after a meal to aid in the digestion of food. The cells that line the stomach are coated with a protective mucus that can withstand gastric contents, while the cells that line the esophagus lack the same protection.

GERD is the most common gastrointestinal-related diagnosis made by doctors during clinical visits in the U.S. It is estimated that pain and discomfort from acid reflux impacts over 23 million people two or more times per week in the United States. Long-term, maximum-dose usage of prescription medications has been linked to a variety of other health complications.

Performed entirely through the mouth without the need for external incisions through the skin, the TIF procedure offers patients who require an anatomical change to correct the underlying cause of GERD, another treatment option beyond traditional surgery. Studies show that for up to three years after the TIF procedure esophageal inflammation (esophagitis) is eliminated and most patients are able to stop using daily PPI medications to control symptoms.

Over 50 peer-reviewed studies of the TIF procedure have been published in medical journals with results from over 800 unique patients treated. The TIF procedure has an established safety and efficacy profile with more than 16,700 patients treated worldwide.

EndoGastric’s EsophyX device was cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2007, and is commercially available in the United States. Inserted through the patient’s mouth with visual guidance from an endoscope, the EsophyX device is used to reconstruct the gastroesophageal valve (GEV) in order to restore its function as a barrier to prevent stomach acids from washing back up into the esophagus.

Based in Redmond, Wash., EndoGastric Solutions develops incisionless procedural technology for gastroesophageal reflux disease.