old piece - but good read on SSH prospects

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article43819.html


One example is the non-blood contacting device called the C-Pulse Heart Assist System, from Sunshine Heart Inc. (SSH:NASDAQ). HeartWare just acquired a company, CircuLite Inc., which has a miniaturized pump for class III heart failure patients. Many class III patients have aortic valve and mitral valve disease, with transcatheter valve technologies available or in development for both of those conditions.
TLSR: Sunshine Heart's C-Pulse is approved in Europe, but is in pivotal clinical trials in the U.S. You obviously like the company, because you have a $14.75 price target on it. What's the value proposition?
JM: At the end of the day, if C-Pulse proves to be an efficacious therapy for class III heart failure patients, the value proposition would be tremendous. The company's risk profile is higher than that of other medical device companies because we haven't seen as much data for this device, as we have for other potentially paradigm-changing medical devices. But the risk-reward, in my view, is favorable. If this device, in the clinical trial that Sunshine Heart is running here in the U.S., meets its endpoint, the market opportunity for the C-Pulse will be three or four times bigger than the market opportunity for class IV-targeted LVAD technology.
One of the reasons HeartWare bought CircuLite is that CircuLite essentially targeted the same patient population as Sunshine Heart. That acquisition validated the Sunshine Heart's market opportunity. Sunshine Heart has a long way to go, and must prove that its device has a definitive impact on cardiac output. Early feasibility data suggests that it might, but the data isn't definitive. However, if the device proves efficacious, the opportunity for this company, with only a $167 million ($167M) market cap, is tremendous.