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| Global Kinetics has appointed a new CEO, US medtech veteran Tim Still. |
Australian medical technology company Global Kinetics, which makes a smart watch-style device to help treat patients with Parkinson's disease, has appointed a new chief executive from San Francisco as part of its strategy to help drive the company's US growth.
The leadership change for the business, which makes a device called the Parkinson's KinetiGraph (PKG) that looks like a smart watch but actually records specific movement data of Parkinson's sufferers, comes after it raised $14.8 million last year from a range of investors including Brandon Capital Partners, in order to enter the US market.
The company has appointed Tim Still to the helm. Mr Still has 26 years' experience in the health technology sector at companies such as diagnostics technology companies Xagenic and Accumetrics.
"Andrew Maxell [the former chief executive] was the right person to build the company to this point and he got technology out to some of the new markets, but I was brought in basically to take it to the next level and to help drive it from the standpoint of getting reimbursements in key markets like here in the US," he said.
"Right now we're fortunate because we're dealing with an awful lot of priorities and there's interest from a variety of partners, including larger medical device and pharmaceutical companies, so in the next few months it's going to be about prioritising our opportunities."
Global Kinetics is now in 17 countries and more than 10,000 people are using its Parkinson's treatment device in about 200 movement disorder clinics globally.
The PKG not only monitors patients' movements, but reminds them when to take their medication, giving clinicians a more accurate picture of the person's dyskinesia and how it changes throughout the day. This leads to changes in how the neurologist manages a person's symptoms.
Despite having a new US-based leader, the company has no plans to shift its headquarters from Australia.
"Australia gives us a great environment for medical innovation and it's where the technology is developed and manufactured," he said.
"We see ourselves as a global business with offices in Melbourne, Stockholm, Minneapolis and San Francisco. My base in the Bay area will mean we'll have more access to Silicon Valley and we'll be closer to venture capital."
Early next year Global Kinetics will look to do another major capital raising, but Mr Still said no decisions had been made whether it would target Australian or US venture capital firms. A listing is also on the cards f further down the track.
But for the next few months Mr Still said the company was focused on running clinical trials in order to achieve "reimbursements" from the US health insurance companies.
The business will also look to develop the PKG to treat other diseases such as Huntington's, Alzheimer's and epilepsy.
"That is a longer term goal," Mr Still said. "In the shorter term there is a web of opportunity just with Parkinson's. We're doubling the PKG numbers in the market every year, so there is growth there and we just need to sort through the potential business development partnerships."
http://www.afr.com/technology/aussie-medtech-company-global-kinetics-appoints-us-ceo-20160824-gr0c3l
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