Sequent Medical Adds Medtech Industry Vet to its Board

Sequent Medical Inc., a privately held medical device company developing devices for the treatment of neurovascular disease, added R. Michael Kleine to its board of directors.

Kleine has more than 25 years of medical device and healthcare industry experience.  He has managed several global biomedical companies. His experience encompasses a wide range of global markets, product life cycles, new product launches, acquisitions and integrations, according to Sequent Medical.

“We welcome the additional experience and leadership that Mike brings to Sequent, and we look forward to the new insights he will provide for our continued rapid growth and global product commercialization,” said Tom Wilder, CEO of Sequent Medical.  “Mike is a seasoned healthcare executive with direct neurovascular business experience.  His capabilities will be a valuable asset as we continue to grow our core WEB franchise while also expanding our neurovascular product portfolio.”

Kleine is currently president and CEO of Miramar Labs Inc., a privately owned medical device company dedicated to bringing next-generation energy modalities to the field of dermatology.  Prior to joining Miramar, Kleine served as president and CEO of both EndoGastric Solutions and Biosensors International Group, a Singapore-based maker of interventional cardiology and critical care products.  During his tenure at publicly traded Biosensors, he grew the market cap from $187 million to $662 million.

From 2002 to 2006, Kleine served as president and CEO at Microvention Inc., developer of minimally invasive products for treatment of neurovascular and peripheral diseases.  During his tenure he successfully managed the rapid growth of the company until its acquisition by Terumo Corporation in 2006.

Prior to Microvention, Kleine led a series of other medical technology companies including Pharos LLC, Thermo Cardiosystems (acquired by Thoratec), Sorin Biomedical (merged with Cobe Inc.), and Bird Medical Technologies.  Kleine’s early career includes more than 13 years at Baxter International Inc. in a variety of commercial roles.  Kleine has a master’s degree from Webster University and a B.A. in biological science from Missouri Valley College.

“Sequent’s business is experiencing significant momentum, and I am pleased to be joining the board at such a critical juncture in the company’s history,” said Kleine.  “I look forward to leveraging my commercial and operational expertise as the company enters a dynamic phase of growth and expansion.”

Founded in 2007, Sequent Medical is a privately held venture backed medical device company developing catheter-based neurovascular technologies.  The WEB Aneurysm Embolization System and VIAMicrocatheter have both received the CE mark.  The VIA has been cleared for commercial use in the United States.  In the United States, the WEB is an investigational device limited by United States law to investigational use.  Sequent is headquartered in Aliso Viejo, Calif., and has European operations based in Bonn, Germany.

Building upon the foundation of endovascular embolic coils, the WEB is an intrasaccular flow disrupter designed to bridge the neck of a ruptured or unruptured intracranial aneurysm and to promote rapid, peri-procedural stasis.  The WEB is based upon Sequent Medical’s proprietary MicroBraid technology, a dense mesh constructed from a large number of extremely fine Nitinol wires.  Unlike conventional medical braids, MicroBraid features a mix of wire diameters to achieve a tailored balance of compliance, porosity and profile across device sizes.

According to the company, the WEB enables physicians to treat a broad range of intracranial aneurysms with the familiarity of an intrasaccular approach while using established biomaterials.  To date, the WEB has been used to treat more than 1,700 ruptured and unruptured aneurysms worldwide.