CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

InVivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp. (NVIV) today announced the appointment of Richard Toselli, M.D., as Chief Medical Officer, effective July 5, 2017. Dr. Toselli, a fellowship-trained spinal neurosurgeon, will assume all responsibilities related to the company’s clinical and regulatory strategy.

Prior to joining InVivo, Dr. Toselli served as Chief Medical Officer for Cochlear Limited. In that role, he was responsible for global clinical, regulatory, and medical affairs teams reporting to the CEO. Prior to that, Dr. Toselli served five years at Sanofi in various levels of increasing responsibility, including Vice President of Global Medical Affairs – Immunology and Inflammation, Biologics Division; Vice President of Global Medical Affairs and Head of the Biosurgery Discovery Performance Unit; and Vice President of Global Medical Affairs, Biosurgery. Before his time at Sanofi, he served as Chief Medical/Technology Officer for Covidien Surgical, and earlier held various roles at DePuy Spine including Director of Medical Affairs, Worldwide Vice President of Research and Development, and Worldwide Vice President of Clinical Evidence and External Relations. He subsequently held the position of Vice President of Evidence-Based Medicine at Johnson & Johnson for the device sector.

Mark Perrin, InVivo’s Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, said, “We are pleased to welcome Rich to the InVivo team during this pivotal moment in the company’s history. His deep industry experience paired with his medical training as a spine trauma neurosurgeon make him an invaluable asset as we look to finish enrollment of our pivotal probable benefit study and file for marketing approval.”

Dr. Toselli’s previous academic positions include Assistant Professor at Brown University, Associate Professor, Director of Spine Center, and Associate Chief of Staff at the University of North Carolina (UNC), and Associate Professor at the University of Vermont. He holds a bachelor of arts from Providence College, his medical degree from Brown University, and a masters of business administration from the UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. Dr. Toselli is a board-certified neurological surgeon.

About InVivo Therapeutics

InVivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp. is a research and clinical-stage biomaterials and biotechnology company with a focus on treatment of spinal cord injuries. The company was founded in 2005 with proprietary technology co-invented by Robert Langer, Sc.D., Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Joseph P. Vacanti, M.D., who then was at Boston Children’s Hospital and who now is affiliated with Massachusetts General Hospital. In 2011, the company earned the David S. Apple Award from the American Spinal Injury Association for its outstanding contribution to spinal cord injury medicine. In 2015, the company’s investigational Neuro-Spinal Scaffold received the 2015 Becker’s Healthcare Spine Device Award. The publicly-traded company is headquartered in Cambridge, MA. For more details, visit www.invivotherapeutics.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

Any statements contained in this press release that do not describe historical facts may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These statements can be identified by words such as "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "will," "may," "should," "expect," “designed to,” “potentially,” and similar expressions, and include statements regarding the safety and effectiveness of the Neuro-Spinal Scaffold, the progress of the clinical program and the timing of the completion of enrollment in the INSPIRE Study and of the filing of an application for marketing approval. Any forward-looking statements contained herein are based on current expectations, and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual future results to differ materially from current expectations include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties relating to the company’s ability to successfully open additional clinical sites for enrollment and to enroll additional patients; the timing of the Institutional Review Board process; the company’s ability to commercialize its products; the company’s ability to develop, market and sell products based on its technology; the expected benefits and efficacy of the company’s products and technology in connection with the treatment of spinal cord injuries; the availability of substantial additional funding for the company to continue its operations and to conduct research and development, clinical studies and future product commercialization; and other risks associated with the company’s business, research, product development, regulatory approval, marketing and distribution plans and strategies identified and described in more detail in the company’s Quarterly Report of the three months ended March 31, 2017, and its other filings with the SEC, including the company’s Form 10-Qs and current reports on Form 8-K. The company does not undertake to update these forward-looking statements.

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