CorWave Strengthens its Leadership Team With Two Key Appointments

CorWave has welcomed a pair of new faces to its C-Suite, hiring Andreas Fleischli as chief technology officer (CTO) and Daniel Lexcen, Ph.D., as vice president Clinical & Scientific Affairs. The strategic hires are meant to strengthen the company’s leadership team as it prepares to scale its clinical program and industrial setup.

“We are thrilled to welcome Andreas and Daniel as CorWave advances toward global clinical and industrial scale-up,” CorWave CEO Louis de Lillers said. “Andreas brings unique expertise in LVAD development throughout the entire product lifecycle, while Daniel’s experience across translational science and clinical trial execution will be key to progress toward market approval. Building on the momentum of our first clinical implants, strengthening our leadership team with talent is a critical step in our ambition to transform durable LVAD therapy.”

Fleischli has about 30 years of expertise in developing left ventricular assist devices (LVADs), spanning device innovation, engineering, industrialization, regulatory approval, and production scale-up. As an internationally recognized authority in magnetically levitated pump technologies, he played a key role in pioneering and manufacturing at scale the most implanted LVAD worldwide to date, a product that has generated more than $4 billion in cumulative revenues.

Over the course of his career, Fleischli has held senior engineering and leadership roles at leading medical device companies, including Thoratec. In his different roles, he drove innovation in next-generation mechanical circulatory support technologies and led major R&D and manufacturing programs. Fleischli earned an MS in electrical engineering and Information Technology from ETH Zurich. He succeeds Carl Botterbusch, who is retiring.

“I am thrilled to join CorWave at such a pivotal moment in its journey toward the upcoming pivotal clinical trial and eventually commercialization. The company’s wave membrane technology, which delivers physiologic pulsatility unlike conventional continuous‑flow pumps, has the potential to redefine circulatory support, not only with our flagship LVAD but also as a platform for future cardiac support devices,” Fleischli stated. “I am excited to help accelerate the transition from breakthrough innovation to clinical and commercial reality. Working alongside this team, I look forward to strengthening our technical foundations and scaling the organization as we advance toward bringing CorWave’s life‑changing solutions to patients worldwide.”

Dr. Lexcen joins CorWave with extensive experience in heart failure clinical research and global clinical program execution. Over the past decade in the medical device industry, including leadership roles in global clinical research, he contributed to the design and execution of numerous international clinical trials across the United States, Europe, Australia, and Japan. Dr. Lexcen’s experience spans the full product development lifecycle, from early clinical studies to post-market programs, and in close collaboration with investigators, regulatory authorities, and key opinion leaders.

Before joining CorWave, Dr. Lexcen led the global clinical research strategy for cardiac rhythm at Medtronic. He earned a Ph.D. in integrated biosciences from the University of Minnesota and is the author or co-author of more than 45 peer-reviewed publications, including in top-tier journals (e.g., New England Journal of Medicine and JACC).

“I am excited to join CorWave and contribute to advancing the clinical program toward the pivotal study for CE marking,” Dr. Lexcen commented. “The company operates at the frontier of heart failure therapies. Its approach to restoring a more natural physiologic response through the wave membrane technology represents a transformative opportunity to drive better clinical outcomes.”

These appointments, alongside the recent arrival of Dawn Sadlowski-Buisserez as vice president of Operations, complete a leadership team tasked with transitioning CorWave from a breakthrough R&D firm to a global industry leader.

CorWave is a French company that develops and manufactures cardiac assist devices. Its undulating membrane is considered a breakthrough technology that distinguishes itself from currently marketed LVADs through its physiological operation, designed to reproduce pulse and blood flow velocities similar to those of a healthy heart. Ultimately, CorWave’s membrane pump technology aims to reduce complications associated with current devices and improve the management of patients suffering from heart failure. A member of French Tech 120, CorWave was founded in 2012 by the startup studio MD Start and is funded by various investors, including Bpifrance, EIC Fund, M&L Healthcare, Novo Holdings, Seventure Partners, Sofinnova Partners, Ysios Capital, and Vlerick Group. The company has raised more than €100 million in equity funding and employs about 100 workers. Last May, after more than a decade of research and development, CorWave became the first company in over 25 years to bring a radically new pumping technology into clinical evaluation in the durable LVAD space. CorWave’s R&D program is supported by the French government through the Investments for the Future Program (PIA).

* CorWave LVAS is a medical device currently available for clinical investigations only.