Thoratec Laboratories Corporation, based here, has announced that its proposed merger with Thermo Cardiosystems of Woburn, Massachusetts, has cleared antitrust review by the Federal Trade Commission.
The action keeps the companies on track for completing the merger during the first quarter of 2001, Thoratec said in a statement. Both Thoratec and Thermo Cardiosystems, a subsidiary of Thermo Electron Corporation of Waltham, Massachusetts, make ventricular assist devices (VADs).
Thoratec's VAD System is the only ventricular assist device that is approved for use both as a bridge to transplantation and for recovery from open heart surgery. Thermo Cardiosystems makes air-driven and electric Heart Mate heart assist devices, which are implanted beside the natural heart and take over the pumping function of the left ventricle for patients whose hearts are too damaged or diseased to produce adequate blood flow. The proposed merger of the two companies was announced in October (see Transplant News Network, November 15, 2000, "Thoratec, Thermo Cardiosystems Plan Merger"). .
*In other Thoratec news, the company said on December 7 that it had received conditional approval from the Food and Drug Administration of an IDE (investigational device exemption) for a new clinical trial of the TLC-II Portable VAD Driver, which is used to power Thoratec's VAD. The proposed trial would allow patients awaiting a transplant or recovery of the natural heart to recover at home while being supported by the TLC-II. The trial is expected to involve up to 35 patients at up to 15 hospitals. The device has been approved for sale in Europe for more than two years.
For Your Information:
See Thoratec's statement on the antitrust action at www.thoratec.com/invest/press/pr235.htm and Thoratec's statement on the TLC-II at www.thoratec.com/invest/press/pr232.htm
Thermo Cardiosystem's website is at
www.thermocardio.com
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