what the big boys are doing., page-6

re: what next? patent squabble. These guys must be worried with a rival moving into the space.

The whole heart device market was predicated on these devices being destinations. It obviously is not much use to a person with a failing heart and the future lies with replacement hearts like Abiomed's Abiocor or with the more sophisticated Heartmate products by Novacor which replace the biventricular function rather than simply giving the left ventricle a nudge along.

Now the 'bridge to transplant' market is the target it is a whole new ball game. A VAD like Ventracors is really not that attractive with an operation taking up to 8hours and involving major intrusion into a sick person.

Accepting a transplant as the only presently known thing that might get you 10years or more of extra life then simply being kept alive should be done with a minimum of fuss ahead of an implant.

Heartware certainly has a cheaper and less intrusive solution dependent , as with VCR, on it working.