Wellsense Appoints Eitan Machover as Chief Executive Officer

NASHVILLE, TN--(Marketwire - Mar 18, 2013) - Wellsense, the leader in continuous bedside pressure mapping technology with its innovative MAP™ System, today announced the appointment of Eitan Machover as the Company's Chief Executive Officer and a Director. Mr. Machover brings extensive experience commercializing innovative healthcare technologies, having successfully served in operational leadership positions and many strategic roles for entrepreneurial medical device companies. He also brings a wealth of experience as a successful investor in the healthcare industry for over a decade.

Mr. Machover's background includes 15 years at General Electric, where he held various strategic business development and operational leadership positions, including seven years with GE Healthcare as General Manager of Integration and Business Development. Mr. Machover also served in the capacity of the National Executive for General Electric in Israel, where he was responsible for GE's overall operations and growth in Israel.

Mr. Machover currently serves as a Founding and General Partner at MediTech Advisors, a dedicated medical device venture capital firm with two funds with over $70 million under management. The funds have successfully invested in companies such as Mako Surgical, Insightec, Dune Medical and OrthoSensor.

"Eitan is a proven leader with an extremely valuable breadth of strategic and operational experience across the healthcare industry and we are delighted to welcome him to Wellsense's management team," said Ran Poliakine, Wellsense Founder and Chairman of the Board. "Wellsense's MAP™ System is uniquely positioned to help address the prevention of pressure ulcers, commonly known as bed sores, which are a huge cost burden to the healthcare system. Eitan's strategic leadership, vision and track record of execution will be instrumental as we continue to accelerate adoption of our unique pressure mapping monitor."

Pressure ulcers are the most prevalent, preventable condition in healthcare today, costing the system over $11.5 billion in treatment, plus significant associated litigation expenses each year. According to a study published this month in The Annals of Internal Medicine, "Preventing In-Facility Pressure Ulcers as a Patient Safety Strategy: A Systematic Review," pressure ulcers are largely preventable, but pressure ulcer rates continue to escalate at an alarming rate. Between 1995 and 2008, the incidence increased by as much as 80%. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality estimates 2.5 million people in the US develop pressure ulcers per year and 60,000 of them die from complications.

"I am thrilled to be joining Wellsense to drive the opportunity for the MAP™ System to become standard of care and make a real difference in the lives of so many patients and caregivers," said Mr. Machover. "By empowering healthcare providers, with the first ever affordable, continuous, bedside visual feedback of pressure mapping, we help reduce costs and patient suffering. Pressure ulcers are a serious problem across the continuum of care and we believe that the MAP™ System has widespread applications, from operating rooms during extremely long surgeries, to acute care settings like ICUs and spinal cord injury units, to long term care settings like burn centers and rehab facilities, and eventually to the home setting. Our innovative technology has the potential to establish a new standard of care for patient safety."

Mr. Machover served as a director on the boards of multiple medical device companies, including OrthoSensor and GI View. He graduated from Emerson College with a degree in Business Communications and went on to receive an MBA from Boston College.

About the MAP System
The MAP System is the first-ever, clinically proven, continuous bedside monitoring system that detects and depicts the variations in pressure across a patient's body, to aid in the prevention of hospital acquired pressure ulcers. Used on any existing bed, the MAP™ System enables caregivers to visualize real time pressure distribution data to guide effective patient repositioning. The MAP™ System's live, color feedback empowers caregivers to easily identify early warning signs of risk to patient safety and has a demonstrated ability to improve upon a facility's pressure ulcer prevention program efforts.

About Wellsense
Wellsense Ltd was founded in 2009 by Ran Poliakine to commercialize medical applications of a smart textile technology. The company's founders and management bring a strong track record of innovating and commercializing breakthrough technologies in consumer electronics and wound care. Wellsense USA Inc. and Wellsense Ltd are privately held companies. Additional information is available at www.themapsystem.com.