Ventracor Growth Continues - 10 Active US Hospitals As Part Of US Clinical Trials

Main Category: Transplants / Organ Donations
Also Included In: Cardiovascular / Cardiology;  Medical Devices / Diagnostics
Article Date: 20 Nov 2007 - 1:00 PDT

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Ventracor (ASX: VCR) announced 10 US hospitals have implanted at least one VentrAssist(tm) as part of its US clinical trials, and that more centres are trained and awaiting availability of patients.

Since the Annual General Meeting on 24 October, there have been 14 implants of the VentrAssist left ventricular assist device (LVAD) worldwide.

There have now been 172 implants at 24 hospitals worldwide, with over 83 years of cumulative patient experience. The VentrAssist implantable blood pump is designed for long term use, and the longest duration implant is now over three years.

In the USA, 18 patients have been implanted as part of the Company's US Bridge-to-Transplant (BTT) Pivotal Trial, which involves approximately 140 patients. The trial aims to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the VentrAssist for short term use in patients whose heart deteriorates before a donor heart is available for transplant.

Eight patients have been enrolled in the US Destination! Therapy (DT) Trial out of approximately 225 enrolments for the trial. The randomized trial is designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of long-term use of the VentrAssist in patients with heart failure who are not candidates for a heart transplant.

In Australia, three patients have recently been implanted with the new version VentrAssist LVA4 under the Special Access Scheme (SAS). The new version features several enhancements introduced in response to physician feedback. VentrAssist LVA4 will be introduced in all markets as soon as approval is obtained in response to the regulatory submissions already made.

Next week, Ventracor Chief Executive Officer Peter Crosby will present at the 19th Annual Piper Jaffray Global Health Care Conference on Tuesday 27 November in New York City. Mr Crosby will speak at 12:30pm (US Eastern Time) and the presentation will be followed by a question and answer session.

About Ventracor Limited

Ventracor is a global medical device company which produces an implantable blood pump, the VentrAssist left ventricular assist device (LVAD), as a therapy to improve the lives of heart failure patients. Ventracor is dedicated to building partnerships with healthcare professionals to make the VentrAssist the standard-of-care worldwide.

http://www.ventracor.com

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