The following companies are at various stages of development for heart failure solutions that include Ventricular Assist Devices:

Thoratec Corporation ( www.thoratec.com )
Abiomed Inc. ( www.abiomed.com )
Heartware International Inc., ( www.heartware.com.au )
Ventracor Ltd. ( www.ventracor.com )
MicroMed Cardiovascular ( www.micromedtech.com   )
Cardiac Assist Systems, Inc ( www.cardiacassist.com )
Jarvik Heart ( www.jarvikheart.com )

According to the American Heart Association, heart failure affects over five million Americans (11% growth) with over 550,000 of them classified as class IV based on the New York Heart Association (NYHA) classification. Published data suggests that these gravely ill class IV patients would benefit from Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) implantation however fewer than 4000 LVADs were implanted in the United States in 2008. This is despite the fact that annual mortality in this population may be as high as 50%.

LVADs are currently used to treat end-stage CHF in three ways:

• Bridge-to-Transplant (BTT)

• Bridge-to-Recovery (BTR)

• Destination therapy (DT)

So far (April 2008), only the Heartmate II by Thoratec ( www.thoratec.com ) has received FDA approval for Destination Therapy in the US.
The US LVAD market was just over $180M in 2007, and independent industry analysts expect a 25% CAGR in the LVAD market (2007 - 2013), due to more device approvals for Destination Therapy. (Sources: SMH Capital and Frost and Sullivan).