Shakeup at Celleration
Posted on July 1st, 2009 – 5:54 PMBy Thomas Lee
Celleration Inc. has tapped Orasi Medical co-founder Mark Wagner to replace Kevin Nickels as CEO. The Eden Prairie-based company is developing a device that uses ultrasound energy to treat hard to cure wounds like burns and ulcers.
The move signals that investors like Minneapolis-based Affinity Capital want Celleration to step on the gas. Despite millions of dollars of venture capital money and a dozen peer review studies backing the technology, the company has struggled to win reimbursement from payers.
So far, only four of the 15 regional payers charged with awarding local Medicare coverage have approved Celleration’s technology. Medica, HealthPartners, and Blue Cross Blue Shield in Minnesota have so far declined to pay for the device.
In an earlier interview, Nickels acknowledged that VCs would not wait forever for Celleration to pay off. Apparently, he was right.
“Mark brings a wealth of experience and a solid history of building companies and delivering results,” Affinity chairman Ed Spencer said in a statement. “We are absolutely confident in Mark’s ability to take Celleration to its next stage of commercialization and build value for its shareholders.”
Wagner is chairman and co-founder of Orasi, a University of Minnesota spin off that’s developing software designed to help drug companies to create treatments for neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s. He is also a former CEO of ProVation Medical, another U-bred company now owned by Wolters Kluwer.
Nickels remains with the company as chief technology officer and business development officer.
