Orchestra BioMed Appoints Vice President of Strategy and Marketing

Orchestra BioMed Inc., a biomedical company developing high-impact, high-value evidence-based therapeutic solutions for medical procedures that address major medical conditions, has appointed Inessa Wheeler, MBA, as vice president of Strategy and Marketing.
 
Wheeler is a proven healthcare strategic marketing executive with over 15 years of experience in marketing strategy and commercial program development. Prior to joining Orchestra BioMed, Wheeler served since 2010 as president of D&E Strategy LLC, a business strategy and marketing consulting firm that worked with established as well as startup medical device and pharmaceutical companies. Prior to D&E Strategy, Wheeler was group marketing manager for LifeCell Corporation, a regenerative medicine company that was acquired in 2017 by Allergan plc for $2.9 billion. Prior to LifeCell, Wheeler was a product director for Cordis, (a Johnson & Johnson company, subsequently sold to Cardinal Health for $1.9 billion), where she worked on marketing strategy and commercial programs for cardiovascular, neurovascular and endovascular interventional products. Wheeler earned an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School and a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from The College of New Jersey.

“We are delighted that Inessa agreed to join our leadership team on full-time basis. Her track record and her extensive prior experience with Orchestra BioMed’s product portfolio makes her ideally suited to drive strategy and marketing for these exciting products,” commented David Hochman, CEO and board chairman of Orchestra BioMed. “Her appointment is another important step in ensuring we have the right core expertise in place to execute our business strategy focused on the development of high impact, high value, evidence-based product innovations that are optimally positioned for clinical and commercial realization through partnerships with established market leaders.”
 
Starting in 2013, Wheeler was engaged through D&E Strategy by the predecessor companies that were acquired to form Orchestra BioMed (Caliber Therapeutics, BackBeat Medical and FreeHold Surgical) in May 2018. In this capacity, she provided strategy and marketing guidance toward the development and market positioning of Orchestra BioMed’s lead development products, the Virtue Sirolimus-eluting Balloon and BackBeat Cardiac Neuromodulation Therapy, as well as to the company’s commercial-stage surgical devices, FreeHold Duo and FreeHold Trio. She has also provided strategy and marketing services to Motus GI in which Orchestra BioMed is major strategic equity holder.
 
“Orchestra BioMed is working to differentiate itself as a leader in the development of solutions that can transform critical areas of procedure-based medicine and help address major unmet needs such as artery disease and hypertension,” Wheeler stated. “Having already spent years working as an advisor to help advance and position what I believe is an extraordinary pipeline of products, I am truly excited to join the team that will help drive these important therapies to market.”
 
Orchestra BioMed Inc. is a biomedical innovation company focused on developing therapeutic solutions for medical procedures that address major medical conditions, such as cardiovascular disease and hypertension, that affect large patient populations and drive a significant portion of healthcare costs. Orchestra BioMed’s business strategy is to leverage partnerships with established global market leaders to optimize the clinical impact and commercial value of its products. Orchestra BioMed expects to generate long-term, high margin cash flow from royalties, revenue sharing, and licensing and development payments from strategic partners that secure commercial rights to Orchestra BioMed-developed products. Orchestra BioMed’s core innovation and development expertise is in the areas of drug delivery, bioelectronics and neuromodulation, as well as interventional, robotic and other minimally-invasive therapeutic devices. The company’s lead cardiovascular therapies, which were developed from concept stage by Orchestra BioMed’s wholly-owned subsidiaries, are highly proprietary and have demonstrated promising clinical results in addressing specific high-need patient populations with artery disease and hypertension. The Virtue Sirolimus-Eluting Balloon (SEB), is a novel, first in-class device that delivers delayed-release bioabsorbable particle encapsulated Sirolimus, the proven gold-standard drug for preventing restenosis of treated arteries, to the vessel wall during balloon angioplasty without the need for a permanent implant. BackBeat Cardiac Neuromodulation Therapy (CNT), is a patented implantable cardiac stimulation-based treatment for hypertension that immediately and substantially lowers blood pressure while simultaneously modulating autonomic nervous system responses that normally drive and maintain blood pressure higher.