Innovative Pulmonary Solutions Names Dennis Wahr, M.D., as President and CEO and Announces Series B Financing Milestone

SEATTLE, WA--(Marketwire - Sep 20, 2012) - Innovative Pulmonary Solutions, Inc. (IPS), a developer of medical devices to treat lung diseases, announced today that Dennis Wahr, M.D., has joined the company as president and chief executive officer. Dr. Wahr is a seasoned medical device executive with proven leadership successes at multiple medical device companies.

Prior to joining IPS, Wahr co-founded Lutonix in July 2007 and served as its President and CEO until CR Bard acquired the company in December 2011. Preceding its acquisition, Lutonix developed a unique drug coated balloon angioplasty technology for the treatment and prevention of vascular stenosis caused by atherosclerosis. Prior to Lutonix, Wahr co-founded Velocimed in January 2001, and served as its President and CEO until its acquisition by St. Jude Medical in 2005. Wahr has served on the board of directors of several medical device companies including Accumetrics, IDev, Velocimed, and Lutonix, and he currently serves as chairman of the board for Intact Vascular. A board certified interventional cardiologist, Dr. Wahr participated as a physician investigator in numerous human clinical studies and served on the medical advisory boards of several companies prior to launching his entrepreneurial career.

"We looked very diligently to find the right executive to carry IPS to the next level as we continue on our development pathway," said Steve Dimmer, founding president and CEO. "With his wealth of operations and clinical stage experience, we're excited to have Dennis at the helm and look forward to our new corporate headquarters in Minneapolis."

Mr. Dimmer will continue with the company as Founder and Executive Vice President. Martin Mayse, M.D., co-founder, interventional pulmonologist and inventor of the technology, will continue with the company as Chief Medical Officer.

"IPS has achieved impressive milestones under the leadership of Steve Dimmer and we're confident the vision of Steve and Dr. Mayse will come to fruition under the experienced guidance of Dennis Wahr," said Kirk Nielsen, managing director at Versant Ventures and a member of the IPS board of directors.

Series B Financing - In March 2012 IPS closed a $10.6 million round of venture capital financing, which combined with Series A, brings the total funding to $19 million. The series B round was led by Advanced Technology Ventures. All Series A investors, Versant Ventures, Split Rock Partners, and Morgenthaler Ventures participated in this round. In conjunction with the financing, Mike Carusi, General Partner of ATV, was added to the Board of Directors which includes: Kirk Nielsen, Managing Director, Versant Ventures; Dave Stassen, Managing Director, Split Rock Partners; Hank Plain, Partner, Morgenthaler Ventures; Mark Deem, Partner, The Foundry; and Dennis Wahr, M.D., CEO.

About Innovative Pulmonary Solutions
Founded in 2008 by Steve Dimmer and Martin Mayse, M.D., Innovative Pulmonary Solutions, Inc. is a privately held medical device company. IPS has developed Targeted Lung Denervation (TLD) therapy. TLD therapy is a novel catheter-based procedure that has the potential to improve lung function, exercise capacity and quality of life for patients suffering from obstructive lung diseases. IPS is the fourteenth company for The Foundry, a medical device incubator.