Supira Medical, Inc., a Shifamed portfolio company, announced today that leading U.S. interventional cardiologist, Dr Azeem Latib, has joined the company as Medical Director to advance clinical activities and prepare the company for significant clinical and regulatory milestones.
Dr Azeem Latib played a key role throughout the development of Supira’s novel pVAD technology, previously serving as a clinical advisor and attending the initial first-in-human cases. Dr. Latib will retain his current position as the Section Head of Interventional Cardiology and Director of Structural Heart Interventions at Montefiore Health Systems in New York, NY.
“I am very excited to join the Supira team and believe it has an excellent offering with one system designed to support cardiovascular hemodynamics for both high-risk PCI (HRPCI) and cardiogenic shock (CS) patients,” stated Dr. Latib. “The unique pump is designed to achieve the required high continuous flow without the risk of bleeding often associated with these types of devices. This will advance clinical practice and enable more physicians to confidently perform these procedures.”
Dr. Latib’s professional expertise focuses on complex coronary interventions and structural heart disease, as well as a passion for new device innovation. He has authored over 700 peer-reviewed articles and serves on the editorial board for several publications including the Journal of American College of Cardiology (JACC), Cardiovascular Revascularization Medicine, EuroIntervention and Cardiac Interventions Today. Dr. Latib is a member of several professional organizations including the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).
“Dr. Latib is an esteemed leader in the interventional space and his insights have been critical throughout our development process,” commented Dr. Nitin Salunke, President and CEO of Supira Medical. “We are thrilled to welcome him to Supira’s leadership team and look forward to his continued expertise as we build upon our successful first-in-human experience and accelerate our clinical activities.”
“We are grateful to have a physician of Dr. Latib’s caliber join the team as it speaks to the clinical importance of this technology,” stated Amr Salahieh, Founder of Shifamed and Chairman of Supira Medical’s Board. “His guidance will be critical as the company expands its clinical experience and prepares for the development of its pivotal study to support PMA approval.”