Ventracor expands heart pump worldwide February 14, 2007 -...

Ventracor expands heart pump worldwide
February 14, 2007 - 1:44PM
AdvertisementMedical device supplier Ventracor is expanding worldwide as it starts to tap into a potential $6 billion a year market.

The Sydney biotechnology company on Tuesday announced a first half net loss of $17.92 million, compared to a loss of $14.76 million the same half last year.

However, the result was in line with the company's expectations.

Ventracor said it expected things to turn around as it starts to gain worldwide regulatory approval for its blood pump implant device, VentrAssist.

Chief executive Peter Crosby said VentrAssist generated $1.2 million of the company's total first half revenue of $2.64 million.

About two were sold in Europe, despite only going on the market two weeks before Christmas, while the rest were sold in the United States.

"It's too early to tell, but we expect sales to be recorded in this half year," he said.

"We think there is a huge future. The potential market for this device is about 50 patients per year, and the device costs $100,000.

"We're not into providing projections or guidances, it's too early in our company's involvement to do that, but if people look at what we are doing they could do their own estimates."

Investor Relations manager Andrew Geddes said the company expected about 140 devices to be sold in the US market within the next two years.

He said the potential market in the US was about 30,000 devices per year, with a similar number in Europe.

Ventracor has distributions in Italy and is in the process of setting up in Scandinavia, with 12 sales, clinical and technical staff employed in Europe.

Mr Crosby said the company also expected regulatory approval for the device in Australia in the next couple of weeks, with the United States recently approving clinical trials of the device.

"We are actively expanding in Europe and now focussing on US, where the market is huge," Mr Crosby said.

"We are at the start of our journey on the way to becoming a majority contributor in this market and becoming very successful.

"We are excited about our potential and I think people should be watching us as we seek to become a market leader through our growth."