CLEVELAND, Jan. 17, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SPR® Therapeutics announced today that industry veteran, Dave Youngberg, has joined the neurostimulation company as Vice President of Sales. Youngberg brings extensive experience in neurostimulation sales, product launch, and commercialization of new therapies within the pharmaceutical and medical device sectors.
Youngberg will lead and develop the SPR sales team as they introduce the SPRINT™ Peripheral Nerve Stimulation (PNS) System. SPRINT, the first and only completely reversible percutaneous PNS system is also the least-invasive, and received FDA clearance in the second half of 2016 to provide relief of chronic and acute pain.
“Dave’s impressive background and industry reputation for building high-performance sales organizations is exactly the right fit for SPR as we commercialize SPRINT,” said Maria Bennett, SPR Therapeutics Founder, President and CEO. “As SPR transforms the world of pain management, Dave will play a critical role in demonstrating market penetration among pain management physicians and driving overall growth.”
“The opportunity to lead the launch of a new and truly innovative interventional pain management therapy comes at an important inflection point in our industry. With the ongoing, devastating opioid epidemic, physicians are proactively seeking safe and effective non-opiate alternatives for the treatment of chronic and acute pain,” said Youngberg. “I’m thrilled to be joining the SPR team as we commercialize this much-needed therapy.”
Youngberg is a seasoned leader with more than 25 years of experience in the medical device and pharmaceutical industries. He previously served as Vice President of Business Development and then Vice President of Sales for CNS Therapeutics, where he led the sales team in the launch of Gablofen, culminating in a $100M acquisition by Covidien/Mallinckrodt in the fall of 2012.
Prior to CNS, Dave was the Director of Sales for Restore Medical, where he led the company to a successful IPO in 2006, and ultimately to its acquisition by Medtronic. Mr. Youngberg has also held various sales leadership positions at Ethicon, Medtronic Neurological, and most recently at Nevro, the latter two of which are leaders in interventional neurostimulation for pain management.
Dave completed a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Minnesota prior to serving as a Commissioned Officer in the U.S. Navy.