* The River Edge company makes kidney dialysis filters.

Nephros Inc., a River Edge-based company that makes filters for the dialysis industry, has named a new chief executive officer.

John C. Houghton, who was CEO of CorMedix Inc. of Bridgewater, is replacing acting CEO Paul Mieyal, who will remain on Nephros' board of directors. Houghton previously worked at Stryker Corp. and Aventis.

Nephros also said Monday that it will pay 1.5 million euros (about $1.97 million) for the global rights to sell the filtration products of Medica, an Italian medical device company. The rights will run until the end of 2022. As part of the agreement, Nephros will pay Medica a 3 percent royalty on sales starting April 23, 2014.

Medica has been the manufacturer of Nephros' water filters.

With the agreement, "we have a guaranteed supplier, and Medica has a guaranteed commercial partner," said Houghton.

Houghton also said the company will continue seeking approval from the Food and Drug Administration for a blood-filtration system targeting patients with end-stage kidney disease.

Nephros had a net loss of $2.4 million on revenue of $2.2 million in 2011, compared with a net loss of $1.9 million on revenue of $2.9 million in 2010.

Houghton has 25 years of experience building global commercial organizations, including marketing, sales, sales operations, customer service, business analytics and new product development.

In addition to the dialysis market, Houghton said he hopes to improve the company's sales in water filtration markets.

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