100th European patient
• New cannula family receives CE Mark approval
• 17 year old patient experiences heart recovery and explant
• 10 year old patient implanted
Sydney AUSTRALIA 5 November 2008: Ventracor Limited (ASX:VCR) reported today
significant progress in the European commercialisation of the VentrAssist® Left
Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD).
The 100th patient to receive a VentrAssist LVAD in Europe was implanted on 29th
October 2008 at the Klinik für Thorax- und Kardiovaskularchirurgie, Ruhr-Universität
Bochum – Bad Oeynhausen in Germany by Univ-Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Reiner Körfer. The
patient, a 47-year old man with an idiopathic dilated Cardiomyopathy, continues to make
an uneventful recovery.
Ventracor Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Peter Crosby said: “Bad Oyenhausen is one of the
most prestigious hospitals implanting LVADs in the world, and we are honoured that they
have chosen Ventracor as a partner.”
Ventracor also announced CE Mark approval of a new family of in-flow cannulae – the
tube that connects the heart to the pump. The first of the new cannula family is pre-bent,
more flexible, and has a textured intra-ventricular section. The new cannula is designed
to give more options to surgeons when implanting the VentrAssist LVAD, and is in
recognition of the principle that one size does not fit all. The Company intends to seek
FDA approval to introduce the new cannula into US clinical trials as soon as possible.
In an exciting development, Ventracor reported the recovery of the heart of 17 year old
girl after 413 days of support with the VentrAssist LVAD implanted after viral myocarditis.
The surgery was performed by Dr. Arnt Fiane from the Department of Cardiac Surgery
under Professor Odd Geiran at the Rijkshopitalet in Oslo, Norway. Dr. Fiane said: “This
case shows that patients can go on to recover after long term support by the VentrAssist
LVAD, and we hope to see more as our experience grows.”
Also at the Rikshospitalet in Oslo further significant achievements were made by a team
jointly led by Dr. Harald Lindberg (Paediatric Cardiac Surgeon) and Dr. Arnt Fiane to
implant a VentrAssist LVAD into the smallest patient to date – a ten-year old boy
weighing 34kg. He continues to make a good recovery and has returned to school just
three weeks after the implant procedure
In Germany, Prof. Dr. med. Hans H. Scheld led a team at the Universitätsklinikum
Münster, Klinik und Poliklinik für Thorax-, Herz- und Gefäßchirurgie, in their first implant
of the VentrAssist device. This group has a long experience with mechanical circulatory
support, and Professor Scheld said “We are pleased to have moved on to using thirdgeneration
devices and are impressed by the VentrAssist system so far. Our first patient
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continues to recover even though he was very ill at the time of implant. We look forward
to continuing our partnership with Ventracor.”
The Company also reported that there were 27 implants of the VentrAssist LVAD
worldwide during the month of October. With over 370 patients implanted with the
VentrAssist LVAD to date, and 122 patients implanted in the US Bridge To Transplant
(BTT) clinical trial, there is more clinical experience with the VentrAssist LVAD than with
all other third generation centrifugal LVADs combined.
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 partnerships with healthcare
professionals to make the VentrAssist LVAD the standard-of-care worldwide.
For further information, please contact: Graeme Fallet CFO, or Angela Edwards, Investor Relations
Tel: +61(2) 9406 3100 or visit www.ventracor.com
VCR
ventracor limited
