Cardica Appoints Thomas J. Palermo As Chief Operating Officer

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Nov. 5, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Cardica, Inc. (Nasdaq: CRDC) today announced that Thomas J. Palermo will join the company November 16 as chief operating officer, responsible for all aspects of research and development, operations and regulatory affairs, reporting to Julian Nikolchev, president and CEO of Cardica..

"Over the course of the last nine months, Tom has directed the changes to the MicroCutter XCHANGE^® 30 device as a consultant, and we are extremely pleased to welcome him to the executive team," said Julian Nikolchev, president and CEO of Cardica. "Tom brings great value to the team, demonstrated by the significant improvements in reliability and performance of the MicroCutter XCHANGE^® 30 system under his leadership. We believe he will be instrumental in the continued advancement of the company in terms of product development and operational efficiency."

Mr. Palermo brings close to 30 years of medical device development and management expertise to Cardica. Most recently, he served as acting CEO of UlceRx Medical, a start-up chronic wound care company. Prior to UlceRx, Mr. Palermo was president and CEO of ReVascular Therapeutics (acquired by Boston Scientific in 2011), where he revamped the technology platform to meet the market demand for the TruePath CTO Device system. Prior to ReVascular Therapeutics, he served as vice president of operations and engineering at Ensure Medical where he was responsible for regulatory, clinical, quality assurance, research and development and operations for the development of ExoSeal bio-absorbable femoral closure device. Prior to Ensure Medical, he served in a variety of escalating roles related to engineering, operations, research and development and business development at a variety of medical device companies. He received his B.S. degree in Technical Management from New Hampshire College and holds more than 40 issued and pending patents.

About Cardica

Cardica designs and manufactures proprietary stapling and anastomotic devices for cardiac and laparoscopic surgical procedures. Cardica's technology portfolio is intended to reduce operating time and facilitate minimally-invasive and robot-assisted surgeries. Cardica's MicroCutter XCHANGE^® 30, a cartridge-based articulating surgical stapling device with a five-millimeter shaft diameter, is manufactured and cleared for use in a variety of gastrointestinal procedures and appendectomies in the United States, and for a wide range of surgical procedures in Europe. In addition, Cardica manufactures and markets its automated anastomosis systems, the C-Port^® Distal Anastomosis Systems and PAS-Port^® Proximal Anastomosis System for coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, and has shipped over 56,500 units throughout the world.

SOURCE Cardica, Inc.

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http://www.cardica.com