DiaDexus Finds New Leader for its Heart Failure Business

DiaDexus Inc. has found a new leader for its heart failure business unit.

Pat Arensdorf has been hired as general manager and head of the heart failure unit with responsibility for the development and commercialization of the company’s heart failure biomarkers.

“Our emerging heart failure program will begin a new, accelerated stage of development with Pat’s leadership,” said Lori Rafield, Ph.D., interim executive chair and board chairman for DiaDexus. “Pat has extensive experience developing and commercializing cardiovascular diagnostic products in both clinic and laboratory settings. As we evolve from a single-product business to a multi-product company, these biomarkers will become important drivers of our future growth.”

Arensdorf has more than 20 years of experience in the medical technology industry. Prior to joining DiaDexus, he has been an active executive, founder and advisor to companies ranging from early-stage startups to large established multinationals, including both commercial and not-for-profit non-governmental organizations. Most recently, he was CEO of Critical Diagnostics, where he led a new regulatory strategy resulting in the most recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance of a novel heart failure biomarker. He has been involved in the founding strategies, corporate development and financing of several companies from concept through product launch, including Immumetrix (transplant diagnostics; acquired by CareDx), Tethys Bioscience Inc. (cardiometabolic clinical laboratory and pre-diabetes test developer; acquired by Health Diagnostic Laboratory Inc.) and Intersect ENT (medical devices). His career in cardiovascular diagnostics began at First Medical, a pioneer in cardiac marker point-of-care testing, which he led as CEO through a venture-backed restart, business acquisition and subsequent product launch as part of Sigma-Aldrich Corporation.

Arensdorf received his master’s degree from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and bachelor’s degree in molecular biology from Princeton University.

“I look forward to developing the heart failure business at DiaDexus to deliver these new prognostic tools for physicians’ management of heart failure patients that provide information independent of already commercialized cardiovascular risk markers,” said Arensdorf. “These biomarkers already have extensive published clinical evidence supporting their clinical utility over the current standard of care. I am committed to leading and growing this new business as a new product pipeline offering and a significant value creation opportunity for DiaDexus.”

Based in San Francisco, Calif., DiaDexus develops and commercializes proprietary cardiovascular diagnostic products. The company claims its Plac Test Elisa Kit is the only blood test cleared by the FDA to aid in predicting risk for both coronary heart disease and ischemic stroke associated with atherosclerosis, the leading and third-leading causes of death, respectively, in the United States. The company’s Plac Test for Lp-PLA2 Activity, a CE-marked test, is an indicator of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death in Europe. The Activity Test currently is under FDA review in the United States.