Presentation of HeartWare Clinic...( Survival Rate of 91% ...),Health

Survival Rate of 91% Among First 23 Patients

FRAMINGHAM, Mass., SYDNEY, Australia, April 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- HeartWare Limited (ASX: HTW), a developer of miniaturized implantable heart pumps to treat advanced heart failure, today announced initial results from an international clinical trial of the HeartWare(R) Left Ventricular Assist System. The results were presented by Dr. Georg Wieselthaler, cardiothoracic surgeon at Vienna General Hospital, at the annual meeting of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation held in Boston.

The data presented by Dr Wieselthaler show a six-month survival rate of 91 percent among the first 23 patients implanted with the HeartWare device. Of the 23 patients, 21 patients met the primary endpoint of the trial, defined as survival to 180 days or transplantation. These included 19 patients who were supported by the HeartWare system at 180 days and two patients who received transplants, after 157 days and 176 days respectively.

Dr. Wieselthaler noted that one of the key features of the pump is its small size, which allows it to be implanted in the chest, thereby avoiding the abdominal surgery generally required to implant competing devices.

HeartWare CEO Mr. Douglas Godshall said the early clinical success of the HeartWare pump is a key outcome for the Company as it accelerates its efforts to make the device available to patients in the United States and around the world.

"These results are very promising," Mr. Godshall said. "Our early data appears to validate the benefits we believe to be inherent in the design of our device -- namely its small size, pericardial placement and wearless mechanism. These results give us great confidence as we move towards the start of our U.S. clinical trial and towards commercial release of the product in Europe."

To date a total of 32 patients have been enrolled in HeartWare's international clinical trial. The avera
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