Systagenix Wound Management adds two directors to board

3 December 2011

Gatwick, UK. Systagenix Wound Management has announced the appointments of Oern Stuge and Jack Wilkens as members of the company’s Board of Directors. Oern Stuge is currently owner and CEO of ORSCO Life Sciences A.G. (Zug, Switzerland), while Jack Wilkens is currently CEO of RevDia (Hialeah, FL, USA).

“We are delighted that Oern and Jack have agreed to join the Board of Directors of Systagenix,” said Ernest Waaser, Chief Executive Officer. “Oern brings many years of international experience in commercializing innovative medical devices, and Jack brings over ten years of experience in point-of-care diagnostics. Both have expertise that will be of great value as we bring new systems of diagnostics and targeted therapies to the global wound care market.”

Oern Stuge said of his appointment: “I am very pleased to join Systagenix at this pivotal time in the company’s history and look forward to working with the management team as they add new therapeutic and diagnostic offerings to their existing strong wound care business”.

“Systagenix’s imminent entry into wound diagnostics addresses an important unmet clinical need and has the potential to significantly improve patient care,” said Jack Wilkens. “I am excited to work with them to further develop and execute this growth strategy”.

Oern Stuge is currently involved in a portfolio of companies in different roles from executive chairmanships, non-executive board positions to advisory roles through ORSCO Life Sciences A.G. He was previously Senior Vice President of Medtronic, Inc. with responsibility for over $4 billion in sales in EMEA, Latin America, India and Canada. He also held executive roles in the cardiac and neurologic divisions at Medtronic. Prior to Medtronic, Oern Stuge held senior executive roles with Abbott and Medinor A/S. He is a trained physician in internal medicine and holds an MBA from IMD, Switzerland.

Jack Wilkens is CEO of RevDia, a medical diagnostic company having just launched a rapid point-of-care diagnostic for periodontal disease and is developing diagnostics for other infectious diseases. He was previously Chief Operating Officer of Inverness Medical Innovations (now Alere). Prior to Inverness, Jack Wilkens held senior executive roles at Sterling Diagnostic Imaging (a private equity backed medical imaging company) and Polaroid. He holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and an MBA.

Home of the Let’s Heal system, and focused 100% in wound care, Systagenix is a leading global supplier of advanced wound care solutions. Committed to improving patient outcomes in wound care through the application of point of care diagnostics and targeted therapies, the company expects to launch the world’s first point of care test to detect elevated protease activity, a key indicator of stalled wound healing, later this year in Europe. Once available, this and other point of care diagnostic tests under development will be the entry point of the Let’s Heal system, which will provide critical diagnostic information and corresponding therapies to improve outcomes in chronic and hard-to-heal wounds.

Formed via the acquisition of Johnson & Johnson’s advanced wound care business in 2008, the company supplies over 20 million wound dressings per month into over 100 countries worldwide for use in treating hard-to-heal acute and chronic wounds. Its leading edge product portfolio includes ADAPTIC TOUCH, TIELLE, SILVERCEL NON-ADHERENT, ACTISORB, INADINE, PROMOGRAN, and PROMOGRAN PRISMA.

Source: Systagenix