Friday, August 22, 2008

HeartWare implants first patient with blood pump

By Mass High Tech Staff

Australian medical devices firm HeartWare Ltd., with U.S. headquarters in Framingham, has announced that the first patient in a 150-person clinical trial has received the HeartWare miniaturized blood pump, according to published reports.

The small pump that goes next to a patient’s heart “is designed to avoid potentially more complicated abdominal implantation,” the Worcester Business Journal reports.

As part of a U.S. Bridge-to-Transplant clinical trial, 28 national medical centers will provide 150 patients with the device. The first patient received the blood pump at Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C.

HeartWare CEO Doug Godshall said in May that the company, still considered an Australia-based company, plans to be a Massachusetts-headquartered company within the next 12 months.