Be not still, my beating heart

V-Focus, the world's first device system that offers a non-surgical alternative to heart transplants in heart failure patients, has won INNOVIC's Next Big Thing Award.

The system was conceived by cardiologist Professor David Kaye, head of the experimental cardiology and heart failure division at Victoria's Baker Heart Research Institute.

The V-Focus circuit and catheter system is a minimally invasive, percutaneous delivery system for the selective administration of genetic, cellular or pharmaceutical agents to targeted organs without systemic leakage.

V-Kardia overcomes a major problem with heart disease therapies by allowing drugs to be delivered directly to the beating heart of a conscious patient, with little leakage around the rest of the body.

By isolating the coronary circulation from general circulation, the toxic effects and dangers to other organs of drugs intended for the heart are substantially reduced, the company says.

This catheter-based system allows the circulation of the heart to be isolated from the systemic circulation. V-Kardia's first therapeutic target is the treatment of heart failure and it may also be used to deliver drugs to other organs.

It has been developed by V-Kardia and its sister operation in the US, both of which are fully owned Baker subsidiaries.

Fifty units have already been sold to US research laboratories for pre-clinical gene studies including the Harvard Medical School. The system is now at final pre-clinical prototype stage and will be on sale within 12 months. The worldwide market opportunity for the V-Focus system is estimated at $10 billion.

Kaye worked with a multidisciplinary team including a cardiologist, an engineer, a vet, a research scientist and a hospital perfusionist to develop the system.

INNOVIC, a not-for-profit company, created the Next Big Thing Award to showcase new Australian innovations and find a new product with the potential to become the 'next big thing'. INNOVIC is supported by the Victorian government under its VicStart technology commercialisation program.