Artificial Heart Company Primed for Big Payday

Written By Brian Hicks

Posted January 23, 2014

Most of you are probably old enough to remember the ’80s shoot-em-up classic Robocop.

The major themes of the movie were definitely drugs, guns, bullets, blood, and explosions, but a memorable sub-theme was artificial human implants, or — as we know it — the science of cybernetics.

The movie was, as all good ’80s flicks were, full of tongue-in-cheek images and scenes, including a series of TV commercials used to illustrate the society of the future.

My favorite of these commercials was an advertisement for the “Jensen Series Sport Heart” — a better-than-natural replacement for the natural organ, designed specifically with the athlete in mind…

…An athlete facing early death from a terminal heart defect, that is.

It was a cute skit, and one that still sticks in my mind even though it’s been years since I’ve seen that movie.

Sci-Fi Merges With Reality

Well, it’s not been more than a quarter century since we got this somewhat mocking vision of the future, and today I’m happy to say it’s finally become the stuff of fact.

One month ago, on Wednesday, December 18th, French biotech firm Carmat Société Anonyme (ALCAR.PA) announced it had successfully implanted its first functioning human heart into a living patient at the Georges-Pompidou European Hospital in Paris.

Now, it’s important to understand that the Carmat is not the first artificial heart to enter the market, nor is it the first human heart to be successfully implanted into a human.

The Jarvik is perhaps the most famous of the early artificial heart devices to enter the market back in the 1980s (perhaps the inspiration behind the fictional Jensen).

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The first successful internal implantation, however, wasn’t completed until 1996, when Mr. Yao ST underwent surgery to have the Phoenix-7 artificial heart installed — keeping him alive for 15 days until a suitable natural donor organ was located and implanted in its place.

This was followed by additional successful implantations during the first decade of the 21st century, including the Abiomed AbioCor, implanted in 2001; the Berlin Heart in 2006; and the SynCardia in 2010.

These internal artificial hearts represented an advancement over earlier artificial heart devices, which were carried and powered externally.

A Step Ahead

The Carmat, however, was designed from the ground up to be something none of its predecessors ever was…

All previous internal artificial heart replacements were intended only as stop-gap solutions to extend a patient’s life until such a time when natural donors were found or — in the case of the Berlin Heart — when the patient’s natural heart could heal on its own to the point of self-sufficiency.

The Carmat was built to be a permanent solution.

Although it weighs in at a hefty 900 grams — roughly 3 times heavier than its natural counterpart — and is powered by an external lithium-ion battery, the Carmat is designed to function for 5 years without any major additional procedures to keep it running.

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It’s not pretty. It’s not perfect. And viable candidates for the Carmat are larger-sized patients (typically overweight men).

But it is a very important step forward.

“We already had devices of this type but they had a relatively low autonomy. This heart will allow for more movement and less clotting. The study that is starting is being very closely watched in the medical field,” said Patrick Nataf, head of heart surgery at Paris Bichat hospital.

An Early Sign of a Brighter Future

This is still just a trial step for the company and the technology.

Carmat’s CEO Marcello Conviti stated that the company hopes to finish human trials of the device by the end of next year and to obtain approval to market them in the EU by early 2015.

Once available on the open market, Carmat hearts are expected to cost between 140,000 and 180,000 euros ($190,000-$240,000).

Carmat Soci was founded in 2008 and is based in Vélizy-Villacoublay, France.

Its stock trades under the symbol CKMTF for American-based investors, with shares currently trading at $107.60.

The company has a $447 million market capitalization, and it plans to start selling the Carmat in number in as little as two years.

Future developments of the Carmat will likely include miniaturization of the device to allow for a wider spectrum of potential users, miniaturization of the battery to allow for complete internalization of the system, and increased battery life.

While FDA approval will represent a major hurdle for this device as the company attempts to bring it to American patients (internal electromechanical implants carry the highest level of potential danger and therefore require the most strenuous trial process prior to commercial licensing), widespread acceptance in the European markets will certainly benefit the technology as it moves through the U.S. testing process.

With luck, devices such as the Carmat will provide a new ray of hope for patients suffering from cardiac diseases in the years to come.

To your wealth,

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Brian Hicks

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Brian is a founding member and President of Angel Publishing. He writes about general investment strategies for Wealth Daily and Energy & Capital. For more on Brian, take a look at his editor’s page.

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