Peter Rule joined EKOS Corporation in March of 2001 as Chairman of the Board, and acting CEO. He successfully led the company in raising $21 Million in private financing in October of 2001, and has helped the company raise $18 in financing during 2004. Ekos is pioneering ultrasound assisted drug delivery, with ischemic stroke and peripheral vascular disease as its two initial areas of focus. Ekos has introduced new generations of both products in its ischemic stroke and peripheral applications.
Peter joined Optiscan, Inc. in August of 2001 as Chairman of its board. Peter became acting CEO in mid 2002. During this time, Optiscan raised two rounds totaling $24M. Optiscan is pioneering a new technology to measure glucose optically, without the use of reagents, in order to provide automated glucose measurement for ICU patients, a projected $2 Billion market. Optiscan has shown that its technology provides the most accurate measurement of glucose in blood to date, and does not suffer form endogenous or exogenous interferences in doing so.
Previously, Peter was President and CEO of PercuSurge, Incorporation. He joined the company in April 1996 as one of its first ten employees. He sold the company for $225 Million in December of 2000 to Medtronic, Inc. PercuSurge had approximately 110 employees when it was sold to Medtronic. Under Peter’s leadership, PercuSurge established a new niche in interventional cardiology: protection. In his five years with the company, Peter raised $50M in private financing. PercuSurge was the first privately financed medical device company in the history of cardiology to perform a randomized control trial with its technology, totaling 1200 patients (studying the comparative benefit of PercuSurge’s technology in saphenous vein bypass grafts). That trial resulted in a 50% reduction in Major Adverse Cardiac Events.
While at PercuSurge, Peter was one of three founders of TheraSense, Inc., serving as the Chairman of the Board from 1996 to 1998. Peter assisted the company in identifying the need for its new, minimally invasive meter, the “Freestyle”, raised the Series A round, and recruited various members of management to the company prior to departing the board at the end of calendar 1998. TheraSense was purchased by Abbott Laboratories for $1.2 Billion in 2003. TheraSense also has under development a subcutaneously based continuous measurement system that has approval pending before FDA.
Previous to PercuSurge, Peter was President of MiniMed Incorporated, a provider of external and implantable pumps that deliver insulin for the treatment of Type I diabetes, which also has a subcutaneous glucose sensor under development. Peter joined MiniMed in 1985 also as one of its first ten employees, leaving in October 1995 after it had reached profitability, attained over 325 employees worldwide, and successfully achieved an Initial Public Offering in July, 1995. Revenues grew from $0.4 Million in fiscal 1985 to $56.9 Million in fiscal 1995 during Peter’s ten years with MiniMed. Peter was an industry advisor to the now famous Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) during his time at MiniMed. Peter re-directed MiniMed from a long term implantable pump and sensor company to that of an external pump and subcutaneous sensor company. MiniMed has subsequently received the world’s first approval for a subcutaneous sensor for indwelling measurement of Interstitial Fluid for consumer usage.
Peter’s previous work experience also included Senior Marketing positions with IMED Corporation in San Diego, California (at that time the leader in ICU based administration of precision controlled solutions), and American Hospital Supply Corporation. Peter has a Masters of Business Administration degree from Harvard University and an Undergraduate degree in Economics from the University of Southern California, where he graduated Magna cum Laude and received Phi Beta Kappa distinction.
