Realheart has since 2001 patented the pump principle in the United States, the U.K., Sweden and Germany. The patent is granted for a span of 20 years from the day of application.
Realheart has a patent that protects the basic idea of including an atrial function in the artificial heart. In other words, that the heart pump consists of two atriums and two chambers, instead of only two chambers, as is used in other products on the market today and under development. The patent also protects the function of pumping the blood by moving the AV-plane between the atrium and the chamber up and down, the so-called AV plane movement. Furthermore, the patent protects the final pump construction and the essential design improvements with the continuous movement of the AV-plane as well as the new control panel.
A new patent was granted for Sweden in 2015 in order to protect the latest version of Realheart TAH. This is also submitted for the EU, the United States, Japan, Australia, Canada, China and India. The first five countries are considered to be the largest and most important markets for artificial hearts. China and India are considered to be important emerging markets.
Apart from the patent protection as described above, Realheart also has submitted patent applications for its future products Realheart VAD, Realheart PulsePump and Realheart Sternal prosthetic. During 2018, a new connective socket for a simple and safe connection between Realheart and the body’s circulatory system was designed and consequently a patent application for this have been submitted.
The existing patents together with the new patent applications leads the board to conclude that the company has a strong patent situation and strong protection. Realheart is furthermore examining the possibility to license the technique to other companies in Asia.