Vertos Medical, Inc., a privately held medical device manufacturer focusing on a minimally invasive treatment for Lumbar Spinal Stenosis (LSS), announced the appointment of James M. Corbett as its President and Chief Executive Officer and to its Board of Directors. In addition, the company announced it has expanded its Board to include Daniel A. Pelak.

Corbett and Pelak bring decades of senior management experience in the development and commercialization of innovative medical devices. Vertos Medical, which has U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance for its MILD(TM) (Minimally Invasive Lumbar Decompression) technology, recently initiated an Institutional Review Board - controlled clinical trial called the Vertos MILD(TM) Preliminary Patient Evaluation Study.

The MILD(TM) procedure is a simple, percutaneous, fluoroscopically guided treatment for Lumbar Spinal Stenosis (LSS). MILD(TM) can be performed under local anesthesia and substantially reduces the tissue damage and removal associated with other minimally invasive or open surgeries. Recent clinical results in 32 patients(1) with moderate-to-severe LSS demonstrated improved mobility and decreased pain. To date, more than 80 patients have undergone the procedure without any adverse events.

Mr. Corbett has more than 28 years of leadership experience in the medical device field. Most recently, he was Chief Executive Officer of ev3 Inc. where he led the development of ev3's peripheral and neurovascular device business. Over the course of his career, Mr. Corbett has held the positions of Chief Executive Officer, Home Diagnostics Inc.; President, Boston Scientific International; and General Manager Baxter, Japan, as well as a number of executive roles in his 11 years at Baxter Healthcare.

Mr. Pelak has extensive medical device industry management experience, with a successful track record in growing young companies and productive corporate operating divisions. Until recently, he was the Chief Executive Officer at InnerPulse, a privately held, early-stage cardiac medical device company. Previously, he was the Chief Executive Officer of Closure Medical Corporation until its acquisition by Johnson & Johnson in 2005. He began his career at Medtronic, Inc., where he spent more than two decades and held the positions of Vice President of Cardiovascular Marketing, as well as Vice President and General Manager of three operating divisions.

About Vertos Medical, Inc.
Vertos is a San Jose, CA, based medical device company founded in 2005 which has recently begun commercializing an innovative, percutaneous treatment for lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS).

LSS is a painful and debilitating condition diagnosed in more than 1.5 million people each year in the U.S. The Vertos MILD(TM) (Minimally Invasive Lumbar Decompression) procedure can be performed under local anesthesia and substantially reduces the tissue damage associated with other minimally invasive or open surgeries. Vertos has obtained FDA clearance for commercialization of the MILD(TM) devices in the U.S.

(1) Spine Technology Education Group, Innovative Techniques in Spine Surgery, June 18-21, 2008, Los Cabos, Mexico: 90% decrease in pain as measured by the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), as well as improved mobility, represented by a decrease in the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) of 84%. No complications or adverse events reported. All patients discontinued the use of narcotics or pain medication at 6 weeks following the MILD procedure.
SOURCE Vertos Medical, Inc. http://vertosmed.com

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