major milestone in growth of left ventricular

Major Milestone in Growth of Left Ventricular Assist Device Industry
SYDNEY Australia, 3 December 2007: Ventracor (ASX:VCR) today welcomed a major milestone
in the growth of the worldwide industry for Left Ventricular Assist Devices (LVADs).
A US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) panel recommended conditional approval for US
marketing of the Thoratec Heartmate II, a second generation axial flow LVAD.
Ventracor Chief Executive Officer Peter Crosby said: “This is the first of the new generation LVADs
to win FDA approval, and we believe this will help to drive adoption of LVAD therapy for patients in
end stage heart failure.�
The Ventracor VentrAssistâ„¢ is a third generation centrifugal flow LVAD that is market released in
Europe and Australia. The VentrAssist is the only other LVAD in both a Bridge to Transplant (BTT)
and Destination Therapy (DT) clinical trials in the US.
The VentrAssist is the only third generation device, and the only centrifugal LVAD in clinical trials in
the US. There is more clinical experience with the VentrAssist than all other third generation
centrifugal pumps combined.
“The early clinical results of the VentrAssist compare very favourably with those of the Heartmate II
and we are optimistic the US clinical trials of the VentrAssist will yield very positive results,� Mr
Crosby added.
There are now 15 US centres that have been trained and are ready to go, including eleven centres
that have implanted the VentrAssist LVAD as part of the US BTT or DT clinical trials.
About Ventracor
Ventracor is a global medical device company which produces an implantable blood pump, the
VentrAssist left ventricular assist device (LVAD), as therapy to improve the lives of heart failure
patients and their families. Ventracor is dedicated to building long term partnerships with healthcare
professionals to make the VentrAssist the standard-of-care worldwide.
Further information, please visit www.ventracor.com or contact: Graeme Fallet, Company Secretary
and Chief Financial Officer or Andrew G