CARMAT Seeking Public Bids Amid Cash Crunch

French medtech firm CARMAT is struggling to stay afloat amid significant financial troubles.

The company has initiated a call for public tenders—essentially public contract bids—to stave off insolvency. A French court (Versailles Economic Affairs Court) placed CARMAT in receivership earlier this month after filing for insolvency; the company says it needs at least €3.5 million to continue operating. In a news release announcing the insolvency filing, CARAT claimed it needs at least €20 million in funding through December and roughly €35 million through next June.

“Despite its continued efforts, the company has not managed at this stage, to secure neither additional cash nor new financing,” according to an official statement from CARMAT, dated June 30.

The company advises those interested in the call for public tenders to contact Valentin Laigneau at [email protected]

CARMAT is continuing to operate during its call for public tenders and will continue to support patients using its Aeson artificial heart. The device is commercially available in the European Union and other countries recognizing the CE Mark. Aeson is intended to replace the ventricles of the native heart and is indicated as a bridge to transplant in patients with end-stage biventricular heart failure (Intermacs classes 1-4) who cannot benefit from maximal medical therapy or a left ventricular assist device and who are likely to benefit from a heart transplant within 180 days of implantation. Aeson is only available in the United States as part of a feasibility study approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

CARMAT designs, manufactures, and markets the Aeson artificial heart, a heart transplant alternative that provides a therapeutic solution to people suffering from end-stage biventricular heart failure, who are facing a shortfall in available human grafts. The world’s first physiological artificial heart is highly hemocompatible, pulsatile, and self-regulated. Founded in 2008, CARMAT is based in the Paris region, with its head offices located in Velizy-Villacoublay and its production site in Bois-d’Arcy. The company employs roughly 200 workers.