NeoChord Nexus TMVR System’s US Early Feasibility Study to Be Led by Dr. Martin Leon

March 14, 2022—NeoChord, Inc. announced the appointment of Martin B. Leon, MD, as Executive Chair of the United States early feasibility study (EFS) of the NeoChord transcatheter Nexus system for mitral chordal repair.

Dr. Leon will be responsible for overseeing and leading the company’s initiatives to advance its United States regulatory strategy for the Nexus system. He will also collaborate to guide the company’s overall global regulatory strategy as it continues patient enrollment in the European EFS.

The company noted that Dr. Leon currently serves as the Mallah Family Professor of Cardiology and Director, Columbia Interventional Cardiovascular Care at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York, New York. He is also Director of the Center for Interventional Vascular Therapy, Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratories, and Director of the executive board of the New York–Presbyterian University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell Heart & Valve Center in New York, New York.

Additionally, Dr. Leon is Founder and Chairman of TCT, the annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics conference.

“I look forward to working with the NeoChord team as Executive Chair of this early feasibility study in the United States, particularly given the exciting potential of the Nexus transcatheter mitral repair technology,” commented Dr. Leon in the company’s press release.

According to the company, the investigational NeoChord Nexus device is designed to restore function via a minimally invasive approach in patients with severe symptomatic primary mitral regurgitation.

In October 2021, NeoChord announced the successful completion of the first-in-human procedure with the Nexus technology, which was performed in Bordeaux, France, as part of the European EFS. In November 2021, the company announced positive 30-day results with the procedure.