Coronis Medical Ventures Offers Comprehensive “Business Acceleration” To Promising Medical Device Start Ups

(Dec. 7, 2006, SUNNYVALE, Calif.) — Founded by veteran medical device entrepreneurs and investors, new Silicon Valley company Coronis Medical Ventures has what it takes to help select early-stage device companies pursue successful commercial development.

“Coronis is a unique business accelerator that addresses the need of the medical device industry for experienced management, development support and financing at the very early stages of medical device development,” said Carl Simpson, a managing director and a founder of Coronis.

Coronis provides a blend of seed capital, hands-on venture development and prototyping support that includes access to a staffed and operational FDA-registered pilot and commercial manufacturing facility, Stellartech Research Corporation in Sunnyvale, Calif.
Technology investment company, Research Corporation Technologies in Tucson, Ariz., is providing

Coronis operations and investment capital. Along with capital, RCT brings its own deal-sourcing
capabilities, relationships with academic institutions and medical centers, intellectual property, licensing and due diligence expertise.

The Coronis management team of Carl Simpson, Wil Samson, Roger Stern, Ph.D., and Mark Klopp, has more than 100 years experience in the medical device field, having managed product development from concept through commercial success.

Carl Simpson has worked in the medical device field for more than 40 years. He was one of the early founders and the first employee of Advanced Cardiovascular Systems, which was acquired by Eli Lilly & Company in 1984 and eventually became part of Guidant Corporation and now Abbott. For the last 20 years, Mr. Simpson has been active as a medical device executive and entrepreneur, and has served on the board of directors for 16 medical device start-up companies. He also worked in venture capital investing with Versant Ventures.

Wil Samson is an active independent investor and consultant for several ongoing start-up ventures. Over a 35-year period, he has founded, headed and directed the invention and commercialization of numerous products within the medical device industry, including work at Advanced Cardiovascular Systems, Guidant Corp., CR Bard Inc. and Cardeon Corp. Mr. Samson holds more than 30 U.S. patents and numerous international patents and has worked with many of the early cardiovascular device pioneers in developing devices. These devices include the first working models for septal occlusion, introducer systems for intra-aortic balloon pump introduction, and the first coronary angioplasty devices used in humans.

Roger Stern has been involved in the medical device field for more than 20 years. He is also the founder, president and CEO of Stellartech, which he formed in 1988 to develop innovative electronic devices for start-up companies in the medical industry. Mr. Stern is also a co-founder of BARRX Medical Inc., Thermage and several other device companies, and is an active angel investor, serving on the board of directors of several medical device companies.

Mark Klopp has extensive experience in sales, marketing, international business management, venture capital, consulting and new company formation. As managing director of Eastman Ventures, Eastman Chemical Company’s corporate venture capital arm, Mr. Klopp led the company’s efforts to invest in and partner with early stage private companies. He is a former board member of the National Venture Capital Association and chairman of the Corporate Venture Group. Mr. Klopp has also had a role as a partner with the Bell-Mason Group, which advises corporations on incubation and venture investing. He has been an active angel investor in medical technology ventures, most notably as the initial investor and cofounder of Uptake Medical, a medical device company treating emphysema.

Coronis’ primary areas of interest are therapeutic medical devices that present minimally invasive
alternatives to conventional surgery in fields such as cardiovascular and neurovascular medicine,
orthopedics, cosmetics, pulmonology, gastroenterology, urology and ophthalmology.

For each portfolio company, Coronis invests capital and assumes executive and board roles as required to oversee initial product prototyping and proof of concept. When these milestones are achieved, Coronis coordinates a follow-on financing to allow the company to proceed rapidly to product commercialization.

At this stage, Coronis serves in an advisory capacity and provides ongoing guidance as board members. “The complementary strengths of RCT and Coronis are a powerful combination,” said Chris Martin, RCT senior vice president and CFO. “The Coronis ‘Dream Team’ will provide device startups with exactly the financing, managerial and development talent they need.”

Contact: Mark Klopp, Managing Director, Coronis Medical Ventures, (925) 872-1051