Akura Medical, A Shifamed Portfolio Company, Appoints Murali Srivathsa as President and CEO

Company advances its next-generation thrombectomy device

CAMPBELL, Calif., April 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ —  Akura Medical, Inc., a Shifamed portfolio company, announced today that seasoned medtech executive, Murali Srivathsa, has joined as President and CEO. With over two decades of industry experience, Murali brings a wealth of medical device and senior leadership expertise. He joins as the team finalizes product development of its next-generation thrombectomy device.

“I am delighted to have Murali join and lead Akura as we look to disrupt the fast-growing venous thrombectomy market,” commented Amr Salahieh, Founder of Shifamed and Chairman of Akura Medical. “He is an accomplished executive with an impressive record of successfully commercializing new technologies in the cardiology space.”

Most recently, Murali served as the Divisional Vice President of Global Heart Failure Marketing at Abbott Laboratories with leadership responsibility for key product categories, including Mechanical Circulatory Support (HeartMate^™), Acute Circulatory Support (CentriMag^™), Pulmonary Artery Pressure Monitoring (CardioMEMS^™), and Continuum – a national home medical equipment provider. Prior to Abbott, Murali held various executive leadership roles at ZOLL, Kyma Medical Technologies (acquired by ZOLL) and Corventis (acquired by Medtronic). Early in his career, Murali brought nascent therapies to market in various marketing and sales roles with Boston Scientific and Guidant. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Electronics Engineering from Bangalore University, India, an Executive Masters in International Trade from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, and an MBA from IMD, Switzerland.

“I am excited to join the Akura team at this important time as the company prepares for significant upcoming milestones,” commented Murali Srivathsa, President and CEO of Akura Medical. “Despite advances in this space, VTE continues to have limited treatment options that effectively remove blood clots. Akura’s easy-to-use solution aims to simplify thrombectomy by minimizing catheter exchanges and efficiently remove clots with a single-pass procedure. I look forward to working with the world-class team in bringing this novel technology to market.”

Venous thromboembolism, known as VTE, includes both deep vein thrombosis (DVT), a blood clot in a deep vein, as well as pulmonary embolism (PE), which occurs when a DVT breaks free and travels to the lungs, blocking some or all blood supply. Annually in the U.S., there are roughly 900K VTE cases which contribute to 100K patient deaths.¹ Recently, mechanical thrombectomy devices have been used to treat high-risk VTE patients; however, current options are inefficient, procedurally complex, can result in significant blood loss, and have difficulty reaching the target anatomy.

About Akura Medical, Inc.
Akura Medical, a privately held portfolio company of Shifamed LLC, is developing a next generation thrombectomy device that aims to simplify thrombectomy through an easy to use, single pass procedure that efficiently removes blood clots. To learn more about Akura Medical, please visit www.akuramed.com.

About Shifamed, LLC.
Founded by serial entrepreneur Amr Salahieh, Shifamed LLC is a highly specialized medical innovation hub focused on developing solutions that accelerate time to market, reduce risk, increase impact, and forge a path toward a world where patients are able to lead longer, healthier lives. To learn more about Shifamed, please visit www.shifamed.com.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Katie Arnold
SPRIG Consulting, LLC
+1 (408) 805-0520
katie@sprigconsulting.com

¹https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/dvt/infographic-impact.html

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SOURCE Akura Medical, Inc.