News:
WORLDHEART ANNOUNCES CLINICAL ADVISORY BOARD AND PILOT
PLANT
OTTAWA, Ontario, Canada, May 23 /CNW/ - World Heart Corporation
(NASDAQ: WHRTF, CDN: WHRT) at its Annual Meeting today in Ottawa announced the
membership of the company's Clinical Advisory Board and the establishment of a
pilot manufacturing plant.
``The membership of this Advisory Board is very significant for our
corporation,'' Dr. Tofy Mussivand, President of World Heart Corporation said.
``These individuals are among the most knowledgeable and respected experts in
the world in artificial heart technology and their advice and guidance will be
invaluable to World Heart Corporation and to our research partner -
the Cardiovascular Devices Division of the University of Ottawa Heart
Institute - as we complete development of the HeartSaver VAD product and
provide it to patients around the world.''
World Heart Corporation (WorldHeart) is pleased to welcome the following
eminent professionals to our Clinical Advisory Board:
DR. WILBERT J. KEON (Chairman), Chief of Cardiac Surgery, Founder and
Director General of the University of Ottawa Heart Institute;
DR. K. FRANCO, Director, Heart and Lung Transplantation and Principal
Investigator for the Wearable Novacor LVAD, Yale University;
DR. H. FRAZIER, Chief, Transplant Services; Director, Cullen
Cardiovascular Research Laboratories and Chief, Thoracic Surgery at The Texas
Heart Institute and Chief, Thoracic Surgery and Clinical Professor at
The Baylor College of Medicine;
DR. R. KORMOS, Clinical Director, Cardiac Transplantation; Director,
Artificial Heart Program, Cardiovascular Surgery, University of Pittsburgh;
DR. H. KOYANAGI, Professor and Chairman, Department of Cardiovascular
Surgery, Heart Institute of Japan, Tokyo Women's Medical College;
DR. P. MCCARTHY, Director, Artificial Heart Program, Department of
Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation;
DR. Y. NOSE, Professor, Department of Surgery, Baylor College of
Medicine, Texas Medical Center and Editor-in-Chief, Artificial Organs;
DR. G. PENNINGTON, Howard Holt Bradshaw Professor of Surgery & Chairman,
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, The Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Wake
Forest University.
WorldHeart also told shareholders that it will establish a pilot
manufacturing facility in Ottawa this summer with the first HeartSaver VAD
product planned for production before the end of 1997.
``The plant will produce several hundred HeartSaver VADs per year,''
Dr. Mussivand said. ``These products will be used in pre-clinical in vivo and
in vitro trials during 1998 and early 1999 and for human implant after
approval by Health Canada. The first human implant is planned for 1999,''
he concluded.
Details of the facility will be released at a later date.
WorldHeart is a medical devices business focused on the commercialization
of artificial heart and related technologies for which the worldwide rights
were acquired from the University of Ottawa Heart Institute in 1996.
The continuing research and development of these technologies is carried out
under contract to 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 stock trades on
the NASDAQ SmallCap Market (ticker symbol: WHRTF) and the Canadian Dealing
Network (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.
-30-
For further information: Michelle Wyndham-West, Public Relations Officer, World Heart Corporation, Tel.:
613-237-4278
WORLD HEART CORPORATION has 7 releases in this database. |
