European Medical Regulators Approve Sales of First Artificial Heart

By Samantha in Science and Technology On 25th December 2020
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Carmat SA posted their biggest achievement of seven years as they get approval from European medical authorities to sell their completely mechanical first-ever artificial heart in Europe.


The approval comes as a result of 27 years effort that began as an idea from a French cardio surgeon to an aerospace company. 

Photographer: Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Images

After the big news hit the market, the stock rose to 34% to 32.05 euros at 11:29 a.m. in Paris after rising as much as 50%, its steepest intraday gain since May 2013. 


The company reveals that its shares have raised by 66% by this year giving it a boost of about 407 million euros ($496 million) in terms of market value.

Credit: Bloomberg
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This week Carmat SA received its CE report for the artificial heart and now it is approved to sell the artificial device in the European Union as a bridge to a heart transplant for patients suffering from irreversible end-stage heart failure. 


The remarkable idea of artificial heart development was first given by surgeon and heart-valve inventor Alain Carpentier to French industrialist Jean-Luc Lagardere in 1993. Following this, Jean made an arrangement of few labs and his engineers from the Matra missile company at Carpentier’s disposal and the group started working on the project that expanded over several years. This period also includes the mergers that led Matra to become what is now Airbus SE. The planemaker is Carmat’s biggest shareholder, with a 13% stake, while Carpentier owns about 5.3%.

Carmat SA
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It was a 10 years long journey for Carmat to receive the CE mark for its artificial device,  “it’s a record, given the complexity of such a device,” Carmat Chief Executive Officer Stephane Piat said on Thursday in an interview with BFM Business television. “We’ll have to work with doctors and medical centers now to offer our therapy and we’ll have to look for patients. The production phase will be a delicate one.”


The CEO of the company shared that the company plans to ramp up manufacturing of the device in January with a second shift.

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Carmat's artificial heart device can prove to be a life-changing option for those people who are suffering from end-stage heart failure and could also provide a huge turnout for the company that could reap 700 million euros in annual sales in Europe by 2030, Portzamparc analyst Mohamed Kaabouni wrote in a note on Thursday.


“Everyone was waiting for it, and it’s here now,” Kaabouni wrote about the Carmat heart. “The CE mark is crucial for patients and the French company probably got approval for a blockbuster, given how large the medical need is and how rare and ineffective other solutions are.”


Carmat has shared that the company plans to release the device in the market in the second quarter.

Carmat SA