Industry Minister lets the Sunshine in

Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane was on hand to open the doors on a new research facility for devices company Sunshine Heart in Sydney today.

The company's key product is a fully-implantable electro-hydraulic heart assist device, which inflates and deflates to displace blood in the ascending aorta in people who suffer from chronic heart failure.

The device was developed with the help of a $2 million Commonwealth R&D Start grant from AusIndustry.

Opening the company's new research facility, Macfarlane said Australians had a good record on innovation, "whether you're talking about the bionic ear or the dual flush toilet... but a good idea is worth nothing until it becomes a commercial reality," he said.

Sunshine Heart CEO Dr William Peters said the ageing western population had led to an increase in congestive heart disease. "There's a potential world market for heart assist devices of about 100,000 a year" by 2012, he said.

The company says its device, known as the Aortic Balloon, is quieter, uses less power and is easier to implant than devices currently on the market. It does not come into contact with the blood, reducing risk of infection in users.

Sunshine heart hopes to implant the device in a human in the fourth quarter of 2003, to gain CE mark approval by the end of 2004, and ultimately to capture up to 8 per cent of the world market.

"Having support from the government really makes a big difference, and without it we would really struggle," Peters said.

The R&D Start scheme is currently frozen, after Macfarlane discovered a $40 million blow-out in its budget in April. At the time, he said he was committed to seeing the program resume this financial year.