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Dr. Dennis Wahr Shares Clinical Updates from Nuvaira
Nuvaira CEO Dennis Wahr, MD, recalls getting caught up in the buzz surrounding “the angioplasty era” while he was still an intern. “There was great excitement about being able to treat patients minimally and invasively,” and this idea is what led him to become an interventional cardiologist.
Dr. Wahr, who scored two winning exits in the interventional cardiovascular space, now sees a similar level of anticipation around interventional pulmonology. The potential led him to take the CEO post at Nuvaira, which is developing a one-time procedure to help COPD patients breath more easily.
In this week’s Medtech Talk podcast, Dr. Wahr shares clinical updates from Nuvaira (formerly Holaira; he explains the reason why the name change in the podcast).
Dr. Wahr says the therapy has made great strides since the presentation of data at the European Respiratory Society meeting in the fall of 2014.
Nuvaira’s Lung Denervation System involves having an interventionalist pass a dNerva™ Dual Cooled Radiofrequency Catheter through a bronchoscope into the lungs to deliver radiofrequency energy to nerves along the airway. The treatment should relax the airway and lead to a decrease in mucus production, making breathing easier. The procedure only takes an hour from start to finish.
Dr. Wahr admits that although parallels exist between the specialties, “the clinical development program required in pulmonary is more sophisticated and challenging” than cardiology because of how many regulatory and clinical investigation bars have been raised.
But when he first looked at this new technology, it literally sent tingles down his spine. “I thought that this technology had the potential to be for interventional pulmonary what the angioplasty balloon was for cardiology.”
Now, the company is employing a strategy Dr. Wahr used at Velocimed and Lutonix, rolling out a “targeted” commercial launch in Europe that he feels will be supported by ongoing clinical trials. Dr. Wahr explains why Nuvaira is managing this commercial launch differently than other companies might.
He also gives a heads up on when the company will be ready to raise another round of financing, which would hopefully be its last round before projected commercialization.