2024-10-10
Realheart Initiates Collaboration With Hannover Medical School Ahead of Clinical Studies and Potential Launch of Realheart® TAH
Västerås, Sweden, October 10, 2024 – Scandinavian Real Heart AB (publ) announces today that the company has entered a collaboration with Professors Arjang Ruhparwar and Jan Schmitto, at the Department of Cardiothoracic, Transplantation and Vascular Surgery at the Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany. The collaboration aims to familiarize leading transplantation surgeons with Realheart® TAH and gain valuable professional input ahead of clinical studies. Realheart® TAH is intended for use in patients awaiting heart transplant treatment or as an alternative to transplantation.
Department of Cardiothoracic, Transplantation and Vascular Surgery (HTTG) at Hannover Medical School is considered one of the leading medical centers in the world, specializing in the treatment of complex cardiac indications and diseases. Within the framework of the agreement, HTTG will function as an advisor and, in due time, potentially take part in the company’s clinical evaluation of Realheart® TAH.
“We are delighted to enter this partnership with Hannover Medical School, through which we will be able to gain further valuable input from leading cardiac surgeons on the therapeutic use of Realheart® TAH. Further, it provides an opportunity for Prof. Dr. Jan Schmitto and his team to get familiarized with our artificial heart ahead of its potential implementation in clinical practice,” says Ina Laura Perkins, CEO of Realheart.
Realheart’s partners at HTTG are Dr. Arjang Ruhparwar, professor in Cardiac Surgery and director of the Department of Cardiothoracic, Transplantation and Vascular Surgery, and Dr. Jan Schmitto, Professor in Cardiac Surgery, and director of the Mechanical Circulatory Support (MCS) program, Surgical Head of the Interdisciplinary Heart Failure Unit, and the director of the newly implemented Innovation-Division “Cardiac Device Technologies” at Hannover Medical School. As academic surgeons with long-standing experience in the development of novel medical devices, innovative cardiac surgery and experimental research, Professors Ruhparwar and Schmitto are recognized as global key opinion leaders in the mechanical circulatory support field.
“Total artificial hearts constitute a new and important class of devices that will help to fulfill the large unmet medical need for patients awaiting a heart transplant. My team and I look forward to getting familiarized with the Realheart® TAH in detail, with the aim to provide new insights to its development and, hopefully, evaluate the device in an upcoming clinical study,” comments Jan Schmitto, Professor, Department of Cardiothoracic, Transplantation and Vascular Surgery, at the Hannover Medical School.