Dive Brief:
- Pulse Biosciences, a developer of pulsed field ablation (PFA) devices, appointed Jon Skinner as CFO on Monday.
- The appointment, which Pulse disclosed Tuesday, follows recent C-suite changes. Pulse named Paul LaViolette as CEO in January, filling a vacancy created when Burke Barrett resigned nearly 7 months after joining the company.
- Pulse’s former CFO Sandra Gardiner left in November 2022. Gardiner filed an arbitration demand against the company in 2023 alleging breach of contract and unlawful termination.
Dive Insight:
Pulse is developing PFA technology that provides electrical pulses that last a nanosecond, compared to a microsecond for existing technologies. Pulse is pitching the technology as a way to shorten ablation time, eliminate the need for device rotations and otherwise improve on fast-growing PFA products from Boston Scientific and Medtronic.
Pulse sees chances to challenge the PFA incumbents in the electrophysiology market and unlock new opportunities in benign thyroid nodule procedures and surgical cardiac ablation. The company plans to start pivotal clinical trials in all three settings this year.
The leadership team guiding Pulse toward those opportunities has changed repeatedly in recent years. Pulse promoted Kevin Danahy from chief commercial officer to CEO in September 2022 and made former CEO Darrin Uecker chief technology officer. Gardiner left the company two months later.
Pulse named Barrett as CEO in May 2024 and returned Danahy to the chief commercial officer position. About seven months later, Barrett left the company. Danahy and Uecker, Pulse’s two previous CEOs, served as the company’s principal executive and financial officers while the board looked for a replacement for Barrett. LaViolette joined Pulse to fill the CEO post in January.
The appointment of Skinner fills the financial officer vacancy. Skinner previously held a senior financial planning and analysis position at Copeland, a private equity backed industrial company. Prior to that, Skinner worked at the cardiovascular medtech company Imperative Care and the critical care device developer Teleflex.
Skinner’s resume lacks experience as the CFO of a publicly traded company. However, Pulse said the executive’s time at Imperative Care included a spell as interim CFO of Kandu Health during its spin-out and fundraising process. Pulse also highlighted Skinner’s role in M&A, strategy, partnerships and sales operations at Imperative Care.
Pulse ended 2024 with $118 million in cash and cash equivalents, according to a January investor presentation. The company expects spending to rise this year to support commercialization and multiple pivotal trials and forecasts it has enough money to support operations for around two years. Investors drove Pulse’s share price up almost 15% to above $23 after Skinner’s appointment was announced.
The stock has climbed as the launches of PFA devices from Medtronic and Boston Scientific have confirmed the commercial potential of the ablation technology. Boston Scientific has predicted that more than 60% of atrial fibrillation procedures globally will use PFA technology by 2026.
