Cleveland Heart receives funds to develop artificial heart

Cleveland Heart, Inc., a Cleveland Clinic Innovations spin-off company, has received a $30 million investment that will fund further development and clinical trials for a total artificial heart.


The investment will allow Cleveland Heart, Inc. – a joint venture between Cleveland Clinic and TransWorld Medical Devices, LLC – to continue international clinical trials, expand laboratory research and implement new design concepts for the SmartHeart.

Cleveland Clinic Innovations, the corporate venturing arm of Cleveland Clinic, is responsible for company creation, business development and commercialization of all medical technology throughout Cleveland Clinic. The $30 million investment is the largest that a Cleveland Clinic Innovations spin-off has received from a single investor. Cleveland Clinic also has invested in Cleveland Heart.

“Cardiovascular disease continues to be one of the leading causes of death in the world and the No. 1 killer in the U.S.,” said Thomas Graham, MD, Chief Innovation Officer and Justice Family Chair in Medical Innovations and Cleveland Clinic Innovations. “Developing innovations to treat patients who are living with heart failure is an imperative, and this investment will enable Cleveland Heart to further develop and extend its research.”

Roughly 23 million people worldwide suffer from heart failure, with two million new cases each year. About 50 percent of patients with Class IV heart failure die within one year of its onset. Currently, the only long-term treatment is a heart transplant. About 2,500 patients in the United States receive a heart transplant annually, and more than 25,000 people die every year while waiting for a donor heart.

Since it was established in 2000, Cleveland Clinic Innovations has filed over 1,600 patents, has more than 300 active licenses and has 48 spin-off companies that have received more than $600 million in equity investment. Nearly 1,000 jobs have been generated as a result of Cleveland Clinic Innovations and its spin-offs, having a significant impact on the economic growth in Northeast Ohio.

“These resources will enable Cleveland Heart to significantly advance the development of its total artificial heart system that has the potential to dramatically improve the lives of thousands of heart failure patients,” said Chris Coburn, Executive Director of Cleveland Clinic Innovations. “It is wonderful to see how this investment will advance this breakthrough technology developed with great effort by Cleveland Clinic cardiac surgeons, engineers and cardiologists.”

Cleveland Heart Inc