Eugene Starr has joined Vascular Pathways, a US-based medical device company backed by Ascension Health Ventures, as executive president.
Until 2006, Starr was executive president of Venetec International, a venture capital-backed manufacturer of the StatLock IV securement device, which was sold to CR Bard for $168m. Before joining Venetec, he was president of Conmed’s Electrosurgery Division, president of Tyco’s Healthcare Group – Canada and spent 17 years at US Surgical.
Vascular is also moving its headquarters from California to Florida after last week raising $14m in its series B round from a consortium including Ascension Health Ventures, the corporate venturing division of Ascension Health and Catholic healthcare organisations.
Venture capital firm CHL Medical Partners led the B round, with the other syndicate members including peers MVM Life Science Partners and Arcus Ventures. Walter Lin, investment manager at Ascension Health Ventures, has joined Vascular’s board, along with Myles Greenberg of CHL and Stephen Reeders of MVM.
Vascular said its B round would bring its Rapid Intravascular Start IV product to market in a sector where more than 300 million peripheral intravenous catheters are placed in patients in the US each year.