2022-03-23
Realheart to establish Australian subsidiary
Realheart, who is developing the world's first artificial four-chamber heart, is setting up a subsidiary in Australia to take advantage of the knowledge and financial benefits offered by the Australian market related to product development and clinical trials.
Scandinavian Real Heart Pty Ltd will be led and run by Dr Marianne Hellers, without any other employees. She holds a degree in Microbiology from Stockholm University and has extensive experience in the Australian life science community as well as a large network that can be valuable for Realheart in taking advantage of the innovation support and research and development opportunities available in the region. Marianne is an alumnus of the BioSA technology incubator in Thebarton and she also led the establishment of the South Australian Health and Medical Institute in Adelaide.
Australia is one of the top five markets for artificial hearts. Several heart pumps including an artificial heart have been developed in the country and thus there is a large pool of knowledge among academic institutions, consultants, suppliers, and test centres. It was this, among other things, that led Realheart to choose Australia's Hydrix as their partner in developing the control unit for its artificial heart recently.
''Hydrix is highly integrated into the Australian medical device ecosystem, and we can benefit from a lot of local knowledge through them, not least when we have our own presence in the country and can work even more closely together," said Ina Laura Perkins, CEO of Realheart.
It is also financially advantageous to locate parts of the research and development in Australia, as 43.5 percent of the investment is paid out as a cash return from Australian Tax Office.
''Our animal studies are ongoing, and we are moving towards clinical trials. These are some of the most expensive activities of medical device development, and by partially locating our activities in Australia, we can reduce costs. Having our own presence in the country is then a big advantage," said Ina Laura Perkins.