SynCardia nets HUD designation for artificial heart

The FDA has approved a humanitarian use device (HUD) designation for SynCardia Systems' temporary Total Artificial Heart to be used for destination therapy in addition to its current premarket approval as a bridge to transplant.

This will allow the Total Artificial Heart to be used in up to 4,000 U.S. patients each year who are not eligible for transplant, according to Michael Garippa, SynCardia's chairman, CEO and president. 

The FDA approval letter of the HUD request designates the Total Artificial Heart for use in U.S. patients “at risk of imminent death from non-reversible biventricular heart failure who are not eligible for cardiac transplant and have a body surface area of equal or greater than 1.7m2.” Tucson, Ariz.-based SynCardia is preparing a humanitarian device exemption to submit to the FDA.

Originally used as a permanent replacement heart, the SynCardia Total Artificial Heart received FDA approval in 2004 as a bridge to transplant for transplant-eligible patients dying from end-stage biventricular heart failure.

The Freedom portable driver is a wearable power supply for SynCardia’s Total Artificial Heart. It is CE approved for use in Europe and undergoing an FDA-approved investigational device exemption clinical study in the U.S.

Around the web

RBMA President Peter Moffatt discusses declining reimbursement rates, recruiting challenges and the role of artificial intelligence in transforming the industry.

Deepak Bhatt, MD, director of the Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital and principal investigator of the TRANSFORM trial, explains an emerging technique for cardiac screening: combining coronary CT angiography with artificial intelligence for plaque analysis to create an approach similar to mammography.

A total of 16 cardiology practices from 12 states settled with the DOJ to resolve allegations they overbilled Medicare for imaging agents used to diagnose cardiovascular disease.