Attention Business/Financial Editors/Medical Reporters:
World Heart Corporation Announces Results of Biotelemetry Demonstration
OTTAWA, ON, Canada, Sept. 17 /CNW/ - World Heart Corporation
(``WorldHeart' or ``the Corporation') announced today that the
Biotelemetry
demonstrations between Osaka, Tokyo and Ottawa, Canada were highly
successful.
These demonstrations were part of the Team Canada Trade Mission led by
the
Right Honourable Jean Chretien, Prime Minister of Canada.
The Biotelemetry System transferred data from Osaka, Tokyo, via
phone
lines, to a simulated patient at the University of Ottawa Heart
Institute in
Ottawa, Canada. Dr. Tofy Mussivand, President and Chief Operating
Officer of
WorldHeart, demonstrated the Biotelemetry technology to his Japanese
hosts and
other delegates attending the Team Canada Trade Mission. Dr. Wilbert
Keon,
Director General of the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, was
connected
via video conferencing, while observing the simulated patient and
HEARTSAVERvad(TM) system in Ottawa. Dr. Mussivand said: ``Canada
isn't just
a nation of natural resources. It can also offer state of the art
medical
high technology'. This breakthrough event was televised on three
stations in
Japan.
The data sent from Osaka to Ottawa demonstrated that the
HEARTSAVERvad(TM) system can be controlled and operated successfully
from any
remote location. Dr. Wilbert Keon said: ``This is a major new
frontier in
the evolution of medicine and health care delivery. This is going to
have an
enormous impact on the way we deliver health care and it's going to be
of
tremendous significance to the developing world'.
WorldHeart is a medical devices business focused on
commercialization of
artificial heart and related technologies for which worldwide rights
were
acquired from the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. Continuing
research
and development of these technologies is carried out under contract
from
WorldHeart by the Cardiovascular Devices Division of the Ottawa Heart
Institute Research Corporation, an affiliate of the University of
Ottawa Heart
Institute. WorldHeart is a public company whose shares trade on The
Toronto
Stock Exchange (ticker symbol: WHT) and the Nasdaq National Market
(ticker
symbol: WHRT).
Any forward-looking statements in this release are made pursuant to
the
safe harbour provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of
1995. Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements
involve
risk and uncertainties, including without limitation, risks in product
development and market acceptance of and demand for the Company's
products,
risks of downturns in economic conditions generally, and in the medical
devices markets, risks associated with costs and delays posed by
government
regulation, limitations on third party reimbursement, inability to
protect
proprietary technology, potential product liability and other risks
detailed
in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission.
All financial figures are prepared in accordance with Canadian
Generally
Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and are expressed in Canadian
dollars.
-0- 09/17/1999
For further information: Sandy Armstrong, Media and Public Relations,
World Heart Corporation, Tel.: (613) 226-4278, Fax: (613) 226-4744,
E-Mail: sandy.armstrong@worldheart.com |
