A Tucson medical technology company that is the only firm in the world with a federally approved temporary total artificial heart, has been acquired.
SynCardia Systems LLC was purchased by California-based Picard Medical Inc., a portfolio company of Hunniwell Lake Ventures LLC, which specializes in making investments in medtech companies. Financial details of the deal were not made public.
Picard said the acquisition will give SynCardia added technical and commercial expertise as well as access to new technologies and manufacturing capabilities.
In addition to approval by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, SynCardia’s Total Artificial Heart, or TAH, system is also CE marked in Europe and approved for use in more than 30 countries.
The device, which has been implanted more than 2,000 times, allows patients to live while they wait for human donor hearts.
Picard CEO Richard Fang said the acquisition will help meet the goal of getting the TAH to more patients.
"To up the game, we are investing in next-generation technologies to address ever broadening clinical needs, and make both the TAH and drivers more user friendly and accessible to a larger and growing number of patients globally." Fang said in a statement. "We believe that with greater adoption of the TAH, fewer people will needlessly die because they lack access to human donor heart transplants."
Fang is also managing partner and founder of Hunniwell Lake Ventures, the company that is backing Picard.
SynCardia’s system includes two sizes of implants, a 70cc version for most adults and a smaller 50cc version for children and smaller adults. The TAH is powered by a pneumatic external driver.
This is the not the first time SynCardia has been acquired. In 2016, the company was bought by Philadelphia-based Versa Capital Management LLC, which was the highest bidder as the Tucson company was coming out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
