Palaszczuk Government funding advances revoluntionary artificial heart

Published Wednesday, 25 October, 2017 at 02:33 PM

Minister for Innovation, Science and the Digital Economy and Minister for Small Business
The Honourable Leeanne Enoch

Palaszczuk Government Ignite Ideas funding is enabling a Queensland company to complete the final step required before beginning human trials with a revolutionary artificial heart.

Minister for Innovation, Science and the Digital Economy Leeanne Enoch said today (Wednesday) Queensland engineer Dr Daniel Timms will use the $250,000 to progress the BiVACOR artifical heart he has been working on for more than 15 years.

Ms Enoch said Dr Timms, the CEO and Chief Technology Officer of both Australian and US-based BiVACOR, will develop a wearable controller to replace the carry-on suitcase-sized unit currently being used.

"BiVACOR is a game-changing innovation that promises a lifeline to people suffering from heart failure, but are unable to receive a donor heart," Ms Enoch said.

“With this Advance Queensland Ignite Ideas funding, Dr Timms is working on developing a reliable wearable patient controller to operate the device that would enable the patient to leave a hospital with their artificial heart. He is moving one step closer to saving lives with this holy grail of artificial hearts.

“Dr Timms has worked with researchers in Japan, Germany and the United States on this revolutionary device, and his dedication to this project is to be admired and commended.”

With the backing of Ignite Ideas funding, Dr Timms aims to have a prototype controller for pre-clinical use by the end of next year.

“We aspire to create a practical solution to advanced heart failure that rivals the gold standard of heart transplantation,” Dr Timms said.

“That is to say, our commitment is to create a system that performs as good, if not better, than a heart transplant.”

Dr Timms said a commercially approved product is anticipated to be available in three-to-five years.

“Heart failure is one of the leading causes of death in the world. Donor heart transplantation is limited to a few thousand people per year,” Dr Timms said.

“Creating a suitable alternative to transplant therapy will expand the support options available to thousands of people suffering from advanced heart failure worldwide.

“Ultimately, we wish to replace hearts, and restore lives.”

Minister for Health and Ambulance Services, Cameron Dick, said the ultimate prospect of an artificial heart and the potential of mechanically-assisted device technology more generally was an exciting frontier in health research and innovation.

“That is why Queensland Health is providing $1.73 million in funding for the Bionics Research and Development Program at the Prince Charles Hospital,” Mr Dick said.

“It is especially pleasing to see the leading role Queensland-based clinicians and researchers are playing in this field.”

Dr Timms said the secret to the BiVACOR design had been to look at the problem of heart replacement from a new angle. Rather than construct an artificial heart to replicate the pumping action of the heart muscle, the BiVACOR works on the premise that the body needs a continuous blood flow.

Dr Timms, who works out of both Australian and US offices of BiVACOR in cooperation with the Texas Heart Institute in Houston, is a mechanical engineer with a PhD in cardiovascular engineering and was honoured with the QUT Young Alumnus of the Year in 2013.

The Ignite Ideas Fund is part of the Palaszczuk Government’s $420 million Advance Queensland initiative designed to develop new products and create jobs.

The government has so far supported more than 200 Queensland businesses through $26.5 million of Ignite Ideas funding over three rounds of the program’s merit-based assessment process – driving more than 1000 jobs.

For more information on the program and its recipients, visit the Advance Queensland Ignite Ideas Fund webpage (http://advance.qld.gov.au/industry/ignite-ideas-fund.aspx).

ENDS

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