Graduates of the U's Medical Devices Center launch new business

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Graduates of the U's Medical Devices Center launch new business

Posted by: Wendy Lee under Minnesota entrepreneurs, Minnesota innovation, Minnesota technology Updated: June 23, 2011 - 10:55 AM

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Two graduates from the University of Minnesota’s Medical Devices Center are leading a medical device business that aims to treat pulmonary hypertension.

The men, graduates from the center’s innovation fellows program, have launched St. Paul-based Aria CV Inc. The company plans to help patients affected by pulmonary hypertension, a disease caused by abnormally high blood pressure in the arteries of the lungs.

“The patients whose lives we aim to improve are extremely sick and aren’t being helped by presently available pharmacologic therapies,” said Karl Vollmers, the company’s vice president of research and development.

John Scandurra, who also graduated from the fellowship program, is the company's CEO.

The former fellows invented the technology with two of their classmates during their program and are now licensing it from the U. The fellowship is a year-long program that trains mid-career professionals on medical device product development.

The other inventors of the technology are Dr. Christopher Scorzelli and Eric Little.