FineHeart Widens FlowMaker’s International IP Protection

FineHeart S.A. has filed six new international patents for FlowMaker, its fully implantable device for treating advanced heart failure patients.
 
The patents increase the company’s solid international portfolio to 147 within 25 patent families, covering FlowMaker’s design, production, surgical implantation and noncontact energy transfer, and the intelligent system for delivering therapy in synergy with each patient’s cardiac rhythm. The patents bring value and protection to the FlowMaker’s technology that, similar to the Pacemaker, is the only cardiac assistance device capable of adapting to the patient’s activity, tracking variations in heart rate, disciminating arrhythmias and permanently synchronizing with the heart’s native contraction for optimum synergistic action.
 
Three new U.S. patents, a third headline patent in China, and two patents in India and in Japan strengthen FineHeart’s international reputation, particularly in the Asian markets, which are highly protective and difficult to access in terms of intellectual and industrial protection. With more than 5 million people suffering from advanced heart failure, and an annual increase of more than 1 million new patients, India is a key future market for minimally invasive surgical solutions, such as those developed by FineHeart.
 
“These new patents consolidate our position as an innovator in implantable medical devices: in the United States, they reinforce the interest in our FlowMaker for the treatment of advanced heart failure,” FineHeart Co-Founder/CEO Arnaud Mascarell said. “In China, they reaffirm our potential in the booming medical device market. We are also very proud of our patent in Japan, where the excellence of our technology is recognised in a fast-moving medical device market. In India, the full implantability of FlowMaker represents a major breakthrough and a paradigm shift in cardiology. The technological innovations of the FlowMaker underline our ongoing commitment to improving cardiac care for all patients worldwide.”
 
The FlowMaker is the first fully intraventricular, wireless flow accelerator that provides physiological support synchronized with the heart’s natural contractions. It respects the natural blood flow and does not require aortic bypass surgery. It is the first miniaturized device—barely 10 cm in size—that is adjustable to patients’ needs, like a pacemaker, to treat patients with varying degrees of severity. It has no external driveline as it is recharged through a wireless transcutaneous energy transfer system (TET). The device is implanted using a minimally invasive beating-heart procedure, commonly performed by cardiac surgeons, which on average, lasts 90 minutes.
 
The second cause of death in the world after cancer, severe heart failure is a degenerative disease that results in the heart’s inability to contract effectively. Each year, 200,000 patients are not managed effectively due to lack of treatment.
 
FineHeart is a French medical device company developing cardiovascular-related technologies. FineHeart was founded by a team of internationally renowned cardiac surgeons and cardiologists, led by Dr. Stephane Garrigue (The FlowMaker inventor) and Dr. Philippe Ritter (co-inventor of cardiac resynchronization therapy) and of managers with specific expertise in the medical device industry, led by Mascarell.