Former Trimedyne Executive to Lead Subsidiary of Cytocare
Howard Cooper, who stepped down last month as chief executive of medical laser manufacturer Trimedyne Inc., has joined struggling Cytocare Inc. to help develop new cardiac technologies, the company announced Monday.
Cooper, 56, will lead a still-unnamed subsidiary that is expected to be spun off to shareholders by the end of the year. Cooper is currently assembling a start-up team for the new venture, the Irvine-based company said.
In leaving Trimedyne for Cytocare, Cooper is going from one company whose primary product has fallen out of favor with both the Food and Drug Administration and the medical community to another. Two years ago, Trimedyne was a highly touted company marketing the first laser designed to open plaque-clogged arteries, and company officials promoted the device as a breakthrough in the fight against cardiovascular disease.
The device was somewhat effective in opening arteries in the leg but it failed to win federal approval for use in the heart, which could have opened up a more lucrative market. The company’s stock traded as high as $24 a share in 1988, but it closed at just $4.625 after Cooper resigned on March 14, and remained at that price on Monday.
Cytocare has also had its share of troubles. Although it recently announced it would post a small profit for the most recent quarter, the company lost more than $7.2 million in the previous two years, and is searching for new, marketable products and technologies.
The company’s primary subsidiary, Medstone International, manufactures lithotripters--machines used to smash kidney stones with shock waves. But the company was unable to win FDA approval to use the machines to treat gallstones as well.
In January, the company announced it was reorganizing and would “develop and acquire health-care projects outside of the medical capital equipment business.”
So far, those projects have not produced marketable results. Cooper was unavailable for comment Monday, and Cytocare declined to provide additional information on the subsidiary he will head.
But the announcement that Cooper was joining the company to develop cardiac technologies was seen as good news on Wall Street. The company’s stock jumped $1.3125 to close Monday at a yearly high of $4.1875.
“If you get someone of this gentleman’s caliber to come to a company that’s looking for positive things, it’s more or less a confirmation of their efforts,” said Steve de Luca, an analyst for Cruttenden & Co., a Newport Beach investment bank.
