Holaira Announces Company Name Change to Nuvaira

Holaira, a developer of medical devices to treat obstructive lung diseases, has changed its name to Nuvaira, effective immediately.
 
The company also announced the addition of Shane Gleason as chief commercial officer. Gleason is an accomplished industry executive with 18 years of healthcare sales and operations experience, most recently as the vice president of sales for North America at Cordis, a Cardinal Health company.
 
“We are proud to launch our new corporate identity as Nuvaira, which better reflects our business strategy and development goals,” said Dennis Wahr, M.D., CEO of Nuvaira. “Nuvaira represents the fusion of our new, truly revolutionary lung denervation technology with our goal of making breathing easier for patients with obstructive pulmonary diseases e.g., chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma. Early clinical results for patients with COPD show that our proprietary catheter-based system is on the way to meeting our commitment of delivering a one-time, whole-lung solution that helps patients and positively impacts their quality of life for the long-term. We are also very pleased to have Shane join our executive team as we position the company for continued growth, multiple ongoing clinical trials and global commercialization. He is a talented and skilled leader with extensive worldwide sales, operations and marketing experience that includes multiple successful product launches, significant consecutive sales growth, and global sales implementation and development.”  
 
Gleason comes to Nuvaira from Cordis, where he led North American sales integration efforts of two sales forces and led the combined 200-plus-member team. Before joining Cordis, Gleason was vice president of U.S. sales at TriVascular Technologies, where he built and led the U.S. sales organization to support the launch and commercialization of its abdominal stent graft system after leading the company’s enrollment efforts in their global pivotal study. Gleason joined TriVascular from Abbott, where he held a variety of leadership roles, including leading global and strategic marketing for Abbott’s endovascular franchise and professional education.
 
Gleason holds an MBA from The Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, and a bachelor of science degree in engineering science and mechanics with a concentration in biomechanical engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
 
Nuvaira is a privately held company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minn. The company is developing the Nuvaira Lung Denervation System to address chronic obstructive pulmonary disease by treating the overactive airway nerves during Targeted Lung Denervation* (TLD), a minimally invasive procedure that targets the parasympathetic innervation of the lungs.¹ This one-time bronchoscopic procedure provides an ablative therapy that opens obstructed airways to improve breathing. Nuvaira received CE Mark approval for its Nuvaira Lung Denervation System for use during TLD in January 2016.
 
*Targeted Lung Denervation (TLD) is currently under clinical investigation for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and is not yet commercially available.

Reference
1. Belmonte K.  Cholinergic Pathways in the Lungs and Anticholinergic Therapy for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Proc Am Thor Soc 2005; 2: 297-305.