About WorldHeart

NASDAQ: WHRT
WorldHeart is a public company headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah (USA). WorldHeart designs mechanical circulatory support devices that assist the failing heart to pump blood. These pumps are also called VADs (Ventricular Assist Devices). WorldHeart's VADs are used to support the left ventricle, which takes oxygenated blood from the lungs and pumps it to and through the tissues and organs. As a result of this heavy and constant demand, the left ventricle does most of the pumping work and, therefore, fails more often. Long-term support of the left ventricle alone is estimated to serve more than 80% of eligible patients. In this application, these devices are called LVADs (Left Ventricular Assist Devices).

The Company's near-term focus is the MiFlow™ VAD, a miniaturized blood pump technology under development that demonstrates WorldHeart's ongoing commitment to better patient outcomes and satisfaction. WorldHeart believes that the MiFlow™ VAD is designed to have improved blood-handling characteristics, and this critically important clinical benefit may decrease the incidence of both bleeding and clotting complications, two of the most common sources of adverse events in VAD patients–which may ultimately position the MiFlow™ VAD favorably among cardiac surgeons. While the VAD market today was $350 million in 2010, it has the potential to expand to $1 billion by 2015 (source: Canaccord Genuity). WorldHeart expects to be a competitor in this developing market.

In conjunction with a consortium consisting of the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University and Launchpoint Technologies, WorldHeart is developing the PediaFlow® VAD, which is intended for use in pediatric patients.

WorldHeart's executive team is comprised of seasoned professionals, most with decades of experience in medical systems and devices. Please see executive biographies in the Investor Relations section of this website.