"We managed to attract experts to France": historic success for the CorWave heart pump

Good news for people with heart failure. At the end of May, the Paris region-based startup CorWave, based in Clichy (Hauts-de-Seine), successfully implanted a heart pump model for the first time in a heart failure patient in Sydney.

A month later, the latter "is doing well more than thirty days after the intervention and has left the hospital," saying he feels "significantly better, without fatigue or shortness of breath," CorWave said in a press release.

This Thursday, July 10, Louis de Lillers, CEO of CorWave, announced on RMC that he intends to take his startup even further if the condition of the first implanted patient continues.

"We are very happy. We have carried out the first implantation of a new-generation heart pump in a patient with heart failure with the Sydney teams, and the very good news is that he is doing very well. He has left the hospital, even though his life was threatened by this fatal disease," Louis de Lillers proudly declares.

Concretely, this technological feat lies in the pump's design. By using a wavy membrane instead of a rotor, this new pump should reduce serious complications associated with current devices, such as strokes and bleeding, and also allow patients to resume daily activities.

While cardiac respiratory assistance pumps already exist, these suppress the effects of the heartbeat. Once implanted, the heart continues to beat, but it's impossible to take the patient's pulse at the wrist. "They no longer have one," summarizes the founder of CorWave.

Currently, these pumps disrupt the cardiovascular system and its natural pressure sensors. Implanted patients cannot lead normal, active lives.

It is precisely this weakness that the French model aims to improve. "Our pump is capable of modulating its flow rate and preventing the heartbeat from being erased. This helps preserve the heart's pulsation. [...] We've been working on this device for over ten years. We're fortunate to have top-level engineers, and we've also managed to attract heart pump experts to France," adds Louis de Lillers.

The announcement of the successful implantation of this pump 30 days later, however, should be taken with a grain of salt. The sector has also seen setbacks. Long presented as a flagship of French innovation in this field, the Carmat group, which manufactures a temporary artificial heart, announced this month the opening of receivership proceedings.

CorWave, which has 80 employees, aims to generate annual revenue of €100 million. The startup already has more than €80 million in funding, including from specialist healthcare funds such as Sofinnova Partners and Novo Holdings, and thanks to support from the European Innovation Council (EIC) and Bpifrance.

According to Les Echos , the CorWave device is expected to be commercially available in Europe within three years. By then, 50 other operations will have been completed successfully. These pumps, which are covered by social security in most European countries, will cost between 90,000 euros in Europe and 130,000 dollars (110,900 euros) in the United States.