December 11, 2017 — CorInnova Inc. recently announced it was awarded second prize in the “2017 InnoSTARS” life science competition for its EpicHeart soft-robotic heart assist device.

Hosted by the U.S. China Innovation Alliance (UCIA), China Science and Technology Exchange Center (CSTEC), China Association for International Science and Technology Cooperation (CAISTC), and supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of People’s Republic of China (MOST), the competition provided U.S.-based innovators and companies with a better understanding of the opportunities available to companies interested in doing business in China as well as well as direct interface with qualified Chinese partners and investors. By invitation as a semi-finalist, CorInnova was awarded the trip to China and CorInnova CEO William Altman traveled to Beijing, Tianjin and Kunming as one of eight semi-finalist life science companies to compete, meet with investors and visit innovation hubs. A total of 300 companies applied to the 2017 InnoSTARS competition across several industry sectors for the opportunity to participate in the business-to-business matchmaking in China.

According to CorInnova CEO William Altman, the judges appraised the eight semi-finalists not only on the merits of their technology and its ability to fill a large and important unmet medical need, but also on the fit of the technology to the Chinese market.

The EpicHeart device is reportedly the world’s first minimally invasively-delivered soft robotic heart device to support heart function.

CorInnova’s EpicHeart heart failure treatment technology includes the following features:

• First collapsible and self-expanding thin film soft robotic device for cardiac assist;
• Rapid minimally invasive implantation ability and simple delivery tool;
• Intrinsic pneumatic attachment inside the pericardial sac (no sutures or incisions to the heart or aorta);
• Non-blood-contacting device operation;
• Likelihood of up to 30-40 percent fewer adverse events than blood-contacting assist devices;
• Biventricular (or normal left ventricular) assist capability;
• Non-obligatory operation;
• Promotion of heart rehabilitation by promoting correct cardiac motion; and
• The potential to prevent the development of heart failure after major heart attacks.

CorInnova has developed a direct cardiac compression device whose technology is a significant break with the prior art. CorInnova’s biventricular device is a collapsible thin-film pneumatically actuated soft robotic device that surrounds both ventricles of the heart. Air inflates the device in synchrony with the heart and increases cardiac output by gently squeezing the heart. CorInnova has also developed an innovative collapsible self-expanding device design that simplifies and speeds implantation. Due to the minimally invasive technology, hospital stays could potentially be reduced from 30 days to 4 to 6 days, compared to left ventricular assist devices (LVADs). CorInnova’s device can potentially be used for a range of end-stage heart failure patients for cardiac assist, ranging from short-term “bridge to decision” use, medium-term “bridge to transplant” use, and all the way to permanent “destination therapy” use.  Diastolic as well as systolic heart failure patients may benefit from the technology. Diastolic heart failure patients currently have no approved device treatment.