PLEASANTON, Calif.,
Sept. 22, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --
Thoratec Corporation (NASDAQ: THOR), a world leader in device-based
mechanical circulatory support therapies to save, support and
restore failing hearts, announced today that D. Keith Grossman has been appointed President
and Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. Mr.
Grossman succeeds Gary F. Burbach,
who has stepped down from his executive and Board roles but will
remain as an advisor to the company through the first quarter of
2016.
Mr. Grossman has served for 30 years in a variety of relevant
healthcare industry roles, including as President and CEO of
Thoratec from 1996 to 2006, a period in which the company pioneered
the development of the mechanical circulatory support market and
saw significant increases in both revenues and market value.
Mr. Grossman has continued to serve on Thoratec's Board since that
time. Most recently, he served as President and CEO of
Conceptus, Inc., a leader in the market for women's health medical
devices. During Mr. Grossman's tenure at Conceptus, the
company restored positive growth in both sales and profitability,
and the company's market value approximately tripled, culminating
in a sale to Bayer Healthcare LLC.
In addition to his experience at Thoratec and Conceptus, Mr.
Grossman served from 2007 to 2011 as a Managing Director at TPG,
one of the world's largest private equity firms, where he initiated
and co-led the medical device venture investing effort, and also
served as a Senior Advisor to the firm's buyout fund. His
prior experience also includes a variety of operating roles within
Sulzermedica and American Hospital Supply Corporation, as well as a
number of public and private Board of Directors memberships,
including medical technology companies Intuitive Surgical and
Kyphon. He currently sits on the Board of Zeltiq, Inc.
Mr. Grossman received a BS in life sciences from The Ohio State University and an MBA from Pepperdine University.
"We are extremely pleased to announce Keith Grossman as Thoratec's President and CEO,"
said Neil F. Dimick, Chairman of the
Board of Directors. "Based on his exceptional track record,
extensive industry experience, and depth of insight into Thoratec,
Keith is uniquely qualified for this position. In addition to
his broad-ranging operational and strategic experience, Keith's
leadership skills and passion make him the ideal choice to lead
Thoratec into the future, and we are confident that under Keith's
direction, we can drive long-term growth and profitability and
create significant value for shareholders."
Mr. Dimick continued, "I also want to acknowledge the Board's
sincere appreciation for Gary
Burbach's many contributions to Thoratec over the past
nearly nine years, a period of time in which the company made
significant progress in developing the market for mechanical
circulatory support as well as the next generation of MCS
technologies. Gary has earned tremendous respect through his
leadership, business acumen, and professionalism, and we wish him
all the best in his future endeavors."
"I am honored to have the opportunity to lead Thoratec again,
and in such a critical time in the history of the company," said
Mr. Grossman. "Thoratec has a strong history of success and
leadership through product innovation and clinical differentiation,
and I am excited to build upon that foundation. By combining
our exciting product development pipeline with a focus on superior
execution, I am confident that we can capitalize on the substantial
remaining opportunity for growth in our core markets, advance our
mission of serving patients and deliver the promise of value for
our shareholders."
Financial Updates
In conjunction with today's announcement, the company is
providing an expectation for third quarter revenues to be in the
range of $102 million to $107
million. The company will also provide an update to
its full-year 2014 financial guidance when it reports third quarter
results.
Additionally, Thoratec announced the release of an updated
version of the Pocket System Controller on Thursday, September
18. The company is allowing centers and patients to upgrade
their existing controllers to this latest version and is offering
to provide replacement controllers upon request. As such, the
company expects to incur a pre-tax charge in the third quarter,
related to incremental warranty expense, of up to $11 million, depending primarily upon customer
response, which was not contemplated in previous guidance.
About Thoratec
Thoratec is a world leader in therapies to address
advanced-stage heart failure. The company's products include
the HeartMate II® LVAS (Left Ventricular Assist Systems)
and Thoratec® VAD (Ventricular Assist Device) with more
than 20,000 devices implanted in patients suffering from heart
failure. Thoratec also manufactures the CentriMag® and
PediMag®/PediVAS® product lines. Thoratec is
headquartered in Pleasanton,
California. For more information, visit the company's
website at http://www.thoratec.com.
Thoratec, the Thoratec logo, HeartMate and HeartMate II are
registered trademarks of Thoratec Corporation and HeartMate III,
HeartMate PHP, PVAD, IVAD and Pocket Controller are trademarks of
Thoratec Corporation. CentriMag and PediMag are registered
trademarks of Thoratec LLC, and PediVAS is a registered trademark
of Thoratec Switzerland GmbH.
The preceding paragraphs contain forward-looking statements
within the meaning of Sections 27A of the Securities Act of 1933
and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These
forward-looking statements relate to, among other things, the
Company's future operations, its development of new products and
increase in shareholder value. These statements can be identified
by the words, "believes," "views," "expectation," "expect,"
"plans," "projects," "should," "hopes," "could," "will,"
"estimates," "potential," and other similar words. Actual results,
events or performance could differ materially from these
forward-looking statements based on a variety of factors, many of
which are beyond Thoratec's control. Therefore, readers are
cautioned not to put undue reliance on these statements. Investors
are cautioned that all such statements involve risks and
uncertainties, including risks related to regulatory approvals, the
development of new products, including development and clinical
trial timing, the growth of existing markets for our products,
customer and physician acceptance of Thoratec products, the effects
of international and FDA regulatory requirements, our ability to
address quality issues adequately and on a timely basis without a
resulting recall of products or interruption of manufacturing or
shipment of products, the effects of healthcare reimbursement and
coverage policies, and the effects of competition. Forward-looking
statements contained in this press release should be considered in
light these factors and those factors discussed from time to time
in Thoratec's public reports filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, such as those discussed under the heading, "Risk
Factors," in Thoratec's most recent annual report on Form 10-K,
quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and
other SEC filings. These forward-looking statements speak only as
of the date hereof. Thoratec undertakes no obligation to publicly
release the results of any revisions to these forward-looking
statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances
after the date hereof, or to reflect the occurrence of
unanticipated events.
SOURCE Thoratec Corporation
