Affluent Medical Names Dr. Howard C. Herrmann as Chief Medical Officer

March 14, 2025—Affluent Medical recently announced the appointment of Howard C. Herrmann, MD, as Strategic Chief Medical Officer (CMO) for its structural heart platform.

The company advised that Dr. Herrmann will guide the development of Affluent’s next-generation structural heart devices, which include the Kalios mitral ring and the Epygon biomimetic transcatheter mitral valve. Dr. Herrmann is Director of Interventional Cardiology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Professor of Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Additionally, Affluent Medical appointed Professor Nicolas Barry Delongchamps, MD, as Strategic CMO for its urology platform. Prof. Delongchamps is a urologist and Professor at Paris-Cité University in Paris, France.

Federica Azzimonti was named Director of Clinical Operations of the company. In collaboration with both Strategic CMOs, she will lead the operational aspects of Affluent Medical’s clinical trials as the company prepares for pivotal stages, noted the press release.

Affluent Medical stated that the Kalios mitral annuloplasty device is designed to be adjusted percutaneously by a cardiologist at any time after implantation, repeatedly and with a beating heart, to treat residual and recurrent mitral valve insufficiency. The company advised that after receiving positive feedback from the FDA in September 2024, it aims to submit a de novo application with current clinical data at the end of 2025/early 2026.

As described in the company’s press release, the transcatheter Epygon device mimics the anatomy of the native mitral valve and physiological blood flow. In 2024, the company began collaborating with Professor Mohammad Sarraf, MD, an interventional cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, to evaluate the Epygon valve in a 10-patient pilot phase investigation.

In July 2024, Affluent Medical announced several agreements with Edwards Lifesciences related to Affluent’s structural heart products and technologies.

As outlined in the company’s press release, the terms of the agreements included the following:

• Affluent received an upfront payment of €5 million from Edwards for an exclusive option—based on clinical outcomes from the Kalio study—for Edwards to acquire Kephalios, Affluent’s wholly owned subsidiary supporting the Kalios adjustable mitral ring. During the life of the option, the operational activities for the development of Kalios will continue to be managed exclusively by Affluent.
• Affluent received an upfront payment of €5 million for the global, nonexclusive license of Affluent’s intellectual property for the biomimetic cardiac mitral valve replacement technology—restricted to open-heart surgery. Affluent is eligible to receive additional future royalties on all potentially commercialized products using the licensed patents for the lifetime of these patents.
• Affluent retains full patent rights for the mitral valve replacement technology for transcatheter valves, including its Epygon mitral valve currently in clinical development.
• Affluent received an upfront payment of €5 million for an equity stake in Affluent. Upon closing of the transaction, Edwards becomes a 9.21% shareholder in Affluent Medical.