HighLife welcomes Stefan Pilz as new Chief Executive Officer

July 9, 2024--HighLife SAS, a leading MedTech company focusing on the development of a novel Trans-Septal Mitral Valve Replacement (“TMVR”) system to treat patients suffering from moderate to severe Mitral Regurgitation (MR), announced today the appointment of Stefan Pilz as the company’s new Chief Executive Officer, effective August 1st, 2024.

Stefan Pilz brings more than 20 years of experience in commercial leadership roles in the field of interventional cardiology and heart surgery. Before joining HighLife, Stefan held several leadership positions at Johnson & Johnson, Abiomed, HeartWare and Biotronik, building and managing high performing teams.

Most recently, he was Chief Commercial Officer at Abiomed, now part of Johnson & Johnson Med Tech, overseeing the global commercial organization where he was responsible for the growth strategy, geographic expansion and market development in the US, Europe, Middle East and Asia. After a successful merger with Johnon & Johnson in December 2022 Stefan led and completed the integration of Abiomed’s commercial organization.

Prior to Abiomed, Stefan led the European commercial organization and distribution partners for HeartWare, which was successfully acquired by Medtronic in 2016. Stefan initiated his MedTech career at Biotronik where he held various global and regional roles within the commercial, marketing and business development organizations.

Stefan holds a Master Degree in Mechanical Engineering and Business Studies from BHT University Berlin.

Georg Börtlein said “As HighLife is transitioning from a clinical stage company to commercial stage, it is the appropriate time to hand the CEO role to a commercial business leader to lead the next stage of HighLife. Stefan’s successful track record in scaling early-stage companies to becoming a standard of care globally make him the perfect fit for HighLife. I will work with Stefan on a seamless transition, and I will support him as needed going forward.”

Stefan Pilz said “I am very honored to be appointed as CEO of HighLife. The company has developed a unique TMVR solution which addresses a huge unmet clinical need. We expect to launch the first fully Trans-Septal Mitral Valve replacement system in a $10Bn market opportunity. Our goal is to become a new global standard of care and to impact hundreds of thousands of lives over the coming years.”

Jose (Pepe) Calle Gordo, Chairman of the board concluded “I would like to thank Georg whose vision and dedication has brought the company to a well-placed stage. We are very happy to welcome a talent like Stefan to take up the next challenge: he has an exceptional track record of driving commercial growth and leading companies to success. His experience & leadership skills will be instrumental to bring the HighLife Technology to the market.”

The HighLife technology is under investigation in clinical studies in Europe, Asia-Pacific and the USA. The company recently received an IDE approval from the FDA to initiate a US Pivotal study.

About HighLife

HighLife SAS, headquartered in Paris, France, with facilities in Irvine, California, is a pre-commercial stage company. It is focused on the development of a novel transcatheter replacement system for treating mitral regurgitation.

The TSMVR solution developed by HighLife consists of a valve-in-ring concept, both ring and valve being implanted percutaneously. The technology is implanted in a simple, 3-step procedure. The valve is deployed in a beating heart, reducing trauma to the patients. It is currently evaluated in clinical studies across three continents.

Caution: The HighLife Valves are investigational devices and not for sale in any geography.

For more information, you can contact:

HighLife Medical
www.highlifemedical.com (https://www.highlifemedical.com/)
Tel : +33 (0)1 72 32 21 15
news@highlifemed.com