Lucas Buchanan is the COO of Sunnyvale, California–based Silk Road Medical. Boston Scientific is in the process of acquiring Silk Road and its technology to prevent stroke in patients with carotid artery disease in a $1.16 billion deal. At Silk Road Medical, Buchanan leads manufacturing and operations, finance and accounting, IT, commercial operations and analytics, health economics and reimbursement, and corporate development efforts.
“Lucas’ deep industry experience will be an important asset to the Board and company as we work together to make the groundbreaking Aortix therapy available for patients with acute decompensated heart failure,” Procyrion board chair Gary F. Burbach said in a news release.
The board addition comes months after Procyrion completed a $57.7 million Series E funding round led by Fannin Partners. The funds support the company’s ongoing DRAIN-HF pivotal IDE trial, internal R&D programs, and commercialization preparation of the Aortix pMCS device.
Procyrion (Houston) describes Aortix as a catheter-deployed pump designed to directly increase kidney perfusion while unloading the heart and improving cardiac performance. The device uses fluid entrainment to pump blood without the need for a valve, delivering a therapeutic benefit via a physiologically natural mechanism of action for people with acute decompensated heart failure who remain congested despite standard medical therapy (cardiorenal syndrome or CRS).
“These diuretic-resistant heart failure patients, who have failed available standard-of-care therapies, are the most difficult to treat. The novel design of Aortix has demonstrated promising results in early studies and offers patients and their physicians a much-needed treatment option,” said Procyrion CEO Dr. Eric S. Fain. “Lucas’ insights on commercialization, financial stewardship and corporate strategy will be of tremendous value as we work to complete enrollment in the DRAIN-HF trial and prepare for commercialization of the Aortix pump.”
