Sydney, Mar 13, 2008 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Ventracor (ASX: VCR)(US ADR:VTCRY) announced today the appointment of Professor Mariell Jessup as Cardiology Principal Investigator of the US Destination Therapy Trial of the VentrAssist Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD).
Professor Jessup is the Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and has a long and distinguished career in the field of heart failure and LVADs, with over 150 publications and presentations. She is also the Institutional Cardiology Principal Investigator for both the Bridge to Transplant and Destination Therapy (DT) trials of the VentrAssist LVAD at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, and is a member of Ventracor's Scientific Advisory Board.
Professor Jessup said "I am really excited to be part of the clinical trials of the VentrAssist, and am committed to advancing enrolment as quickly as possible.
The innovative Destination Therapy trial will answer the clinical questions we cardiologists have been asking for years about the long term performance of LVADs in a population of patients less sick than those who have historically been candidates for DT with earlier generation LVADs."
The Surgical Principal Investigator for the Destination Therapy Trial is Professor Lyle Joyce, Professor of Surgery at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. Professor Joyce said "Professor Jessup is a distinguished key opinion leader in the field of LVADs, and we are very pleased that she has chosen to take such a major role with the VentrAssist DT Trial."
Dr. Guillermo Torre-Amione, Associate Professor of Medicine at the Methodist Hospital in Houston, was the Cardiology Principal Investigator of the DT Trial, and will continue to be a major contributor as the Institutional Cardiology Principal Investigator at the Methodist Hospital.
Ventracor's Chief Executive, Mr. Peter Crosby, stated "With 41 patients enrolled in the Bridge to Transplant Trial, and 17 in the Destination Therapy Trial to date, we look forward to momentum increasing as the new centers who completed training and site initiation in the last few months hit their stride. With Professor Jessup's appointment, and other initiatives under way, we look forward to announcing growing enrolment in the coming months."
Contact
Angela Edwards
Investor Relations
Graeme Fallet
Chief Financial Officer
Tel: +61(2)9406 3100
WEB: www.ventracor.com
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