The company
Worldwide about 300 000 peritoneal dialysis patients perform their therapy at home. Each one of them needs to manually connect a catheter to a dialysis product several times a day. About 1 million connections have to be performed every day – more than 300 million connections a year.
Considering the increasing number of elderly dialysis patients, performing a manual connection can be a barrier to home treatment. Impaired dexterity or vision can make the manual connection difficult or impossible and even expose the patient to the risk of an infection when touching sensitive parts of the dialysis tubing system or the catheter connection.
PeriSafe® guides the catheter connection without manual contact with the dialysis tubing and enables more patients to receive their therapy at home. Compared to hospital-based treatment, this would result in considerable healthcare cost reductions worldwide.
Peripal AG is a privately funded start-up from the ETH Zürich and the medtech industry. The team offers a unique combination of product development capabilities, a longstanding experience in the dialysis market, a successful track record of strategy, sales and marketing positions, and an excellent network in the nephrology community.
Vision:
Allow patients to be treated at home and reduce healthcare costs.
Mission:
Develop and market support devices, that enable more patients worldwide to stay home and ensure a safe therapy.
CEO, Dr. Sandra Neumann about PeriSafe®
CEO Dr. Sandra Neumann
Our Team
Dr. Sandra Neumann
CEO and Founder
Dr. Jean-Claude Groebli
Director R&D and Operations
Barbara Jeroncic, MSc, RAC
Director RA and Quality Management
'Once a good idea finds you, you know it's time to take care of it.'
Dr. Sandra Neumann founded Peripal AG in 2015. In her previous role as General Manager Renal for Baxter AG in Switzerland, she recognised the need for a simpler and safer way to perform home dialysis. Sandra is a trained biochemist and received her PhD from ETH Zurich in 2003. Sandra has worked for McKinsey & Company Inc. and Geistlich Biomaterials AG, before joining Baxter Healthcare Inc. in its EU headquarter. She brings 8 years of experience in the home dialysis field and her entire network as an asset.
'No risk, no reward.'
Dr. Jean-Claude Groebli is responsible for R&D project management and production planning. He holds a PhD in Physics from the ETH Zurich. Jean-Claude has more than 15 years of experience in engineering, development and industrialisation of medical devices for the diagnostic market. He worked in Operations and R&D at QIAGEN Instruments AG and was responsible for design transfers to production sites, product launches and life cycle management ensuring availability and quality during the serial production.
'Proud of being a part of Peripal, where we are striving with passion to make an important improvement in lives of PD patients.'
Barbara Jeroncic is responsible for Quality Management and Regulatory Affairs. She brings more than 10 years of experience in regulatory and quality in medical device & pharma sectors. She has previously worked for Tecan, Zimmer, Diasorin, Irish Medicines Board, and Wyeth Biopharma. Barbara is a microbiologist and holds MSc in Pharmaceutical Quality Assurance and Regulations form Dublin Institute of Technology.
Julia Fox, BSc
Project Assistant
Martin Dubach, Mark.planer
Director Marketing & Sales
Stephan Hess, MSc
Usability Engineer
'If you ever get stuck, try a different approach.'
Martin Dubach is responsible for Sales and Marketing and contributes to Peripal AG with his international Sales & Marketing experience. He has worked in various roles for the machine manufacturer ABB and the telecom operator Swisscom for many years. After his marketing studies, he joined the Swiss start-up company Limmex and was responsible for the establishment of the Sales & Marketing department.
'To develop something novel, you have to understand the challenges together with the people who will use it. You have to see their world through their eyes.'
Stephan Hess is the Usability Engineer of Peripal AG and responsible for Human Factor Validation and Verification.
In parallel, he is working towards his PhD at the ETH Zurich in the field of product interface evaluation using mobile eye tracking.
Advisory Board - Nephrology
Prof. Dr. Peter Rutherford
Scientific Advisor
Prof. Rutherford is Medical Lead Orphan Renal Diseases at Vifor Pharma. Previously he was Vice President Integrated Market Access EU and Emerging Markets at Quintiles and Medical Director Renal EMEA at Baxter Healthcare SA in Zurich. Prof. Rutherford received his PhD in 1994 from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. He trained in Nephrology at the University of Newcastle, UK and Yale University School of Medicine, USA. He was Senior Lecturer in Nephrology at the University of Wales, College of Medicine from 1996 and Medical Director for North East Wales NHS Trust in Wrexham from 2002. He worked for the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) from 2002, within the clinical guidelines program.
Prof. Dr. Stephan Segerer
Medical Advisor
Prof. Segerer is doctor in charge and elected head physician for Nephrology, Dialysis and Transplantation at the Cantonal Hospital Aarau. Prior to that he was Director of the Program for Chronic Kidney Failure in the Department for Nephrology at the University Hospital Zurich. Prof. Segerer studied Medicine in Regensburg and at the Technical University Munich. He graduated and habilitated at the Ludwig Maximilians University Munich. He is specialized in Nephrology, Inner Medicine and Angiology. His habilitation and scientific publications address inflammatory mechanisms in congenital kidney disorders, transplantation and the role of the peritoneum in peritoneal dialysis.
Prof. Segerer is a member of nephrology societies in Switzerland, Germany and the USA. Additionally, he is a member of the International Society for Peritoneal Dialysis. His clinical expertise is focused on renal replacement therapy and peritoneal dialysis.
Board of Directors
Reto Koch
Chairman of the Board
Reto Koch acts as an Investor, Business Angel and Healthcare Expert and is a Seed Investor in Peripal AG. He has a Master Degree of Economics from the University of St. Gallen (HSG) and has more than 23 years of experience in the Medical Device industry. Reto worked 13 years in leading roles for Johnson & Johnson in EMEA, USA and Korea/Asia and for more than 5 years as Regional VP for Bauerfeind in France. Currently Reto is the VP International Sales and a Member of the Executive Board of Mathys.
Dr. Erich Platzer
Member of the Board
Dr. Erich Platzer was lead investor of the series A of Peripal in 2016 and has since been a member of the board of directors of the company. He has more than 20 years of experience in financing and developing life sciences companies. He is President of StartAngels, and was a founding member of HBM HealthCare Investments until 2015. Prior to that, he was Head of Roche's Strategic Marketing (Product Launches) in Oncology. He is chairman or board member of several MedTech and Biotech companies, listed or private, and holds an MD.PhD. (Habilitation) in Internal Medicine, Hematology and Medical Oncology.
Dr. Sandra Neumann
Member of the Board
Dr. Sandra Neumann founded Peripal AG in 2015. In her previous role as General Manager Renal for Baxter AG in Switzerland, she recognised the need for a simpler and safer way to perform home dialysis. Sandra is a trained biochemist and received her PhD from ETH Zurich in 2003. Sandra has worked for McKinsey & Company Inc. and Geistlich Biomaterials AG, before joining Baxter Healthcare Inc. in its EU headquarter. She brings 8 years of experience in the home dialysis field and her entire network as an asset.
Felix Rübel
Member of the Board
Felix Rübel has been an entrepreneur and investor in various industries over the last 20 years. Before, he worked as an Engagement Manager for McKinsey & Co. in Zürich and London. Felix holds a MSc in Mechanical Engineering from the ETHZ, a MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management and a MA from the University of Zürich.
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