In the largest deal with a single investor for a Cleveland Clinic spinoff, Cleveland Heart Inc. has raised $30 million from a private equity group in Korea, Power Heart Consortium.
The investment will fund further refining and clinical trials for the company’s SmartHeart Total Artificial Heart, a compact, implantable pump and valve system designed to replace the function of the heart in patients with biventricular heart failure. Artificial hearts that exist today are used to extend life in patients with end-stage heart failure, or to keep patients who are waiting for a heart transplant alive.
Cleveland Heart Inc.’s design is based on the company’s left ventricular assist device. Chris Coburn, executive director of Cleveland Clinic Innovations, told The Plain Dealer that the left ventricular assist device should see regulatory approval in Europe and begin clinical trials in the U.S. within a year, but the artificial heart will take longer.
This deal marks another sizable investment in a cardiovascular Clinic portfolio company. It’s the largest this year in a Cleveland Clinic spinoff company, topping Juventas Therapeutics’ $22.2 million round earlier this summer. Another cardiovascular Clinic spinoff, Cleveland HeartLab, snatched an $18.4 million series B last summer.
Cleveland Heart Inc. is a joint venture between Cleveland Clinic and TransWorld Medical Devices.
[Photo from Flickr user MetalPhoeniX]
