FINALIST / HEALTH SCIENCES
In 2005, Patrick Daly made the decision to leave Ethicon Endo-Surgery and moved his wife and family from Cincinnati to Pittsburgh to accept the position of president and CEO with Cohera Medical Inc. At that time, Cohera was a virtual company that was based on a novel medical device technology developed at the University of Pittsburgh.
Although the inventors maintained an active role in the development of the technology, it was Daly who brought the vision and the expertise necessary to communicate the market opportunity to investors.
Daly developed the initial business strategy that focused on the development of a medical adhesives company with a platform of related products targeting specific surgical needs. Within his first six months, Daly negotiated a license for the technology, raised sufficient seed funding to hire additional employees and secured independent office and laboratory space.
Under Daly’s leadership, Cohera, a surgical adhesives company, has grown from one employee to 30 since 2006. He has raised millions of dollars during a challenging economic climate to further develop the company. He has also spearheaded an intellectual property strategy with more than 50 patents secured and pending.
Cohera reached a major milestone during 2011 by completing its first human clinical trial on its lead product, TissuGlu, and obtained CE mark approval to sell the product in Europe, moving a first-of-its-kind product from the laboratory to market in less than five years.
As of the first quarter of 2012, TissuGlu has been used successfully in more than 250 plastic surgery procedures in Germany by leading plastic and reconstructive surgeons.
In addition, the FDA has granted Investigational Device Exemption approval to initiate a pivotal clinical trial of TissuGlu in the U.S. ■
HOW TO REACH: Cohera Medical Inc., www.coheramedical.com
