French technology is offering hope for a novel answer to the public-health problem posed by heart failure. The Paris-area start-up CorWave just raised €35 million to develop its revolutionary heart-assist pumps.

CorWave cardiac pumps use a wave membrane inspired by the undulating movements of sea animals. That disruptive technology caught the eye of the EIC (European Innovation Council), the European Union’s fund for innovation. They injected €15 million for the fund’s first investment in a privately owned company.

The advantage of CorWave’s cardiac pumps is that they reproduce the native heart’s physiological flow, thereby reducing both existing conditions and complications with current pumps, such as strokes, digestive hemorrhaging and the appearance of cardiac-valve-related diseases.
The firm, which is headquartered in Clichy, in the suburbs of Paris, has several dozen staff members, including eight Ph.Ds in the sciences, and over 30 engineers. It intends to take advantage of its new resources to produce cardiac pumps in the Paris region and to begin clinical trials of its LVAD (Left Ventricular Assist Device) pump, a key step towards approval for marketing.

According to the French Cardiology Federation, heart failure is responsible for nearly 70,000 deaths a year in France alone, and affects 2.3% of the population. A global phenomenon for a market that has been estimated at €1 billion. French technology is offering hope for a novel answer to the public-health problem posed by heart failure