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4Tech Elects Ex-Medtronic CEO William ("Bill") A. Hawkins as its Chairman
[October 28, 2016]

4Tech Elects Ex-Medtronic CEO William ("Bill") A. Hawkins as its Chairman


4Tech Inc., a privately held clinical-stage company that is developing the world's first transcatheter device, TriCinch™, for repair of the Tricuspid heart valve, today announced that it has elected William ("Bill") A. Hawkins as Chairman, effective immediately. Hawkins was previously Chairman and CEO of Medtronic from 2008-2011, which he joined in 2002 as Senior Vice President and President of Medtronic Vascular.

Last month, 4Tech reported that its TriCinch TTVR device was used in the world's first-ever successful transcatheter tricuspid valve repair without use of transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) or general anesthesia to successfully treat a patient suffering from Tricuspid Regurgitation (TR), which afflicts more than three million patients in the U.S. and Europe, making the potential TR patient population approximately 2/3 the size of the MR (Mitral Regurgitation) patient population. The TriCinch™ implant took less than one hour and allowed substantial reduction of TR (Tricuspid Regurgitation) from a grade of 4+ (most severe cases) down to 2 (mild).

"We are extremely pleased to have Bill Hawkins join the 4Tech board of directors," said Carine Schorochoff, CEO of 4Tech. "Bill has enormous credibility and tremendous experience in the medical device industry. I personally look forward to his participation as we continue to establish TriCinch as a simple and reproducible percutaneous solution to reduce Tricuspid Regurgitation and restore patient quality of life."

"Bill Hawkins is the embodiment of leadership in the medtech industry and will be invaluable in assisting 4Tech's progress toward establishing the clinical validation and subsequent commercial success of TriCinch," said Jan Pensaert, CEO of Valiance (London) and a director of 4Tech.



"Bill Hawkins' track record as a forward-thinking, high-integrity leader of the medical device industry is stellar, and we are extremely excited to have him join us," added Ben Tsai, a Partner at Invus Opportunities (New York) and a director of 4Tech. "Having Bill join 4Tech as Chairman is both a testament to, and major accelerant of, the tireless efforts of our talented team to build the category-defining percutaneous solution for tricuspid valve disease."

Among current board memberships and appointments, Hawkins is a Trustee of Duke University; Vice Chair of Duke University Health System; Chairman of Bioventus; lead Director at Immucor; Director of Halyard (NYSE:HYH), Trice Medical, Baebies; and, a member of the Arboretum Ventures and HealthQuest Technical Advisory Boards. He was recently inducted into the National Academy of Engineering. His previous board positions included AdvaMed (Advanced Medical Technology Association); FDA Executive in Residence; Trustee of the University of Virginia Darden School of Business; and founder and past Chairman of Medical Device Innovation Consortium (MDIC), the first-ever public-private partnership between industry and the FDA created to advance medical device regulatory science. Hawkins earned a degree in biomedical engineering at Duke University and an MBA degree at University of Virginia-Darden Graduate School of Business Administration.


About Tricuspid Regurgitation ("TR")
TR is a difficult-to-manage, age-related disease in which blood "backflows" into the right side of the heart. Today's standard of care for TR is medical management. Surgical intervention is very high-risk. In-hospital death post-cardiac surgery for isolated TR can be as high as 37% (Source (News - Alert): McCarthy et al. Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery 2004). Unfortunately, TR patients tend to be non-compliant with their medications. Thus, TR and related complications induce substantial healthcare spending due to frequent re-hospitalizations. Furthermore, TR leads to chronic renal failure and end-stage dialysis. The combination of these negative outcomes results in a significant unmet need for an interventional cardiology solution to TR.

About 4Tech Inc.
4Tech Inc. (www.4techtricuspid.com) is incorporated in Delaware, USA, with operations in Galway, Ireland (4Tech Cardio Ltd). 4Tech has developed a proprietary transcatheter solution for the treatment of TR. Because of its unique anchoring and tensioning mechanism, the 4Tech TriCinch™ System for Transcatheter Tricuspid Valve Repair (TTVR) allows a simple and reproducible percutaneous procedure, designed not only to reduce TR and restore patient quality of life, but also allow substantial potential cost-savings for healthcare systems.

Caution: The 4Tech TriCinch™ System for Transcatheter Tricuspid Valve Repair is in the early clinical phase of development. It will not be available in the USA for clinical trials until further notice and is NOT available for sale.

Caution: This news release contains certain "forward-looking" statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These "forward-looking" statements, which may include, but are not limited to, statements concerning the projections, financial condition, results of operations and businesses of 4Tech are based on management's current expectations and estimates and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences may include, but are not limited to, risks relating to the protection of intellectual property, changes to governmental regulation of medical devices, the FDA's approval of new products, the impact of competitive products, changes to the competitive environment, the acceptance of new products in the market, conditions of the interventional cardiology industry and the economy and other factors.


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