ventracor flags new projects

Article in The Age:

Ventracor flags new projects
June 14, 2007 - 5:45PM

Australian-based hi-tech manufacturer of the "artificial heart", Ventracor Ltd, said it has a pipeline of projects coming down the track.

Ventracor chief executive Peter Crosby said the company would focus on three areas - improving the implanting and surgery for the patient, making it easier for the physician to manage the patient, and trying to make the blood pump a fully implantable product by getting rid of the battery tube that comes out of the patient's side.

The "artificial heart" - known as VentraAssist Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) - is a six-centimetre-diameter blood pump that is a bridging device for those awaiting a heart transplant or who do not qualify for a heart transplant but need assistance.

Mr Crosby said innovation was key company driver, but was not limited to just products.

"In our industry it's innovation or die," he said at a business lunch in Sydney.

"But there are many opportunities for innovation in products, manufacturing, quality, financing, and ways of doing business."

Ventracor is building its profile in the world's largest healthcare market, the United States, which boasts 50 per cent of the world's healthcare expenditure.

Mr Crosby said managing innovation was tough.

"Early stage companies take risks to save time, but later-stage companies take time to manage risk," he said.

Thinking outside the box was key, he said.

"You have to challenge yourself and think about things differently today than you did yesterday," he said.

Another point to managing innovation is to fail early and fail often and reward risk, he said.

"You will be amazed at the good ideas that come out of that (failure)," Mr Crosby said.

Mr Crosby said Ventracor focused only on one product for now, but said it was common for many companies to begin with one product.

He gave the example of a firm once called MS-DOS, now known as Mircosoft.

Ventracor in April celebrated the 100th implant of its "artificial heart", which was implanted in a 27-year-old man at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Clinical trials of the LVAD for approval in the US are underway, with about 360 patients participating.

In Australia, there are 60 people testing LVADs.

The implant costs about $US100,000 ($A119,189).

© 2007 AAP