Francis Medical Appoints Chief Medical Officer

Francis Medical Inc., a Minneapolis-based, privately held medical device company developing a proprietary water vapor ablation therapy for the treatment of patients with prostate, kidney, and bladder cancer, has appointed Dr. Jonathan Jarow as the company’s chief medical officer (CMO). Dr. Jarow will be leading Francis Medical’s clinical and regulatory efforts, including the VAPOR trials evaluating water vapor ablation as a minimally invasive treatment for prostate cancer. The company has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of its Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) application.
 
Dr. Jarow is a recognized leader in the field of urology. A graduate of Northwestern University School of Medicine, Dr. Jarow has held numerous prestigious positions including 14 years at The Johns Hopkins Medical Center where he was a professor of urology, pathology, radiology, and biochemistry and molecular biology. He served as clinical investigator for multiple industry-sponsored trials and was principal investigator or co-investigator on six National Institute of Health grants. After Johns Hopkins he spent 10 years with the FDA where, among other roles, he served as the director of Office of Medical Policy (CDER) and chief medical officer: Office of Device Evaluations (CDRH). He is also a renowned scholar, authoring over 100 peer-reviewed publications and while at the FDA was the leader and principal organizer of multiple International FDA Workshops. In addition to his CMO position at Francis Medical, Dr. Jarow will continue his role as CEO and founder of FDA Solutions LLC in Chevy Chase, Md.
 
“I am excited to join Francis Medical in the clinical development of this novel approach for the treatment of urological cancers. I believe this technology has the potential to be transformational in the management of patients with localized prostate cancer and allow them to avoid the potentially life-altering side effects of the current cancer therapies,” said Dr. Jarow.
 
“We are very excited to add Dr. Jarow to our executive team as CMO. I am confident his vast clinical knowledge and regulatory experience will prove invaluable as we continue the development of our groundbreaking prostate cancer therapy,” said Michael Kujak, Francis Medical’s president and CEO.
 
Francis Medical is committed to developing urological cancer treatments that are tough on cancer and gentle on patients, with a belief that cancer tissue can be treated with minimally invasive treatments. The foundation of the company is a tribute to and legacy for the inventor’s father Francis Hoey whose life was ended by prostate cancer with treatments that had harsh implications on his normal daily living. One in nine men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lifetime. It can be a serious disease where the current treatments cause further complications of urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction. Convective water vapor energy technology applies the thermal energy stored in sterile water vapor to convectively deliver targeted treatments to the cancerous tissue in a simple transurethral procedure.