HeartMate 3 Heart Pump Approved for Patients Not Eligible for Transplant

Abbott‘s HeartMate 3 left ventricular assist device (LVAD) won FDA approval to be used as a destination therapy for advanced heart failure patients who are not eligible for a transplant. Previously, the device has been indicated for patients eligible for and waiting for a transplant. Since transplant hearts are rarely available and not all patients are healthy enough to receive one, the HeartMate 3 can help the native heart pump blood throughout the body for the rest of the patients’ lives.
“Approximately a quarter of a million people are living with advanced heart failure, and many of these people will need a heart transplant; however, only a few thousand will receive a new heart,” said Nir Uriel, M.D., director of Heart Failure, Transplant and Mechanical Circulatory Support at the University of Chicago Medicine. “The destination therapy approval for Abbott’s HeartMate 3 device now gives these patients new hope that they can receive a heart pump clinically proven to mitigate challenges we’ve historically confronted with this therapy stroke and blood clotting while also offering survival rates on par with a transplant.”