A second issue is grafted on the problem of materials

In the premises of EADS in Suresnes, the project is also well guarded as a State secret. And for good reason: a first world in... cardiac surgery prepare, from the eyes, for fifteen years. Unveiled today, it is the first prototype of implantable artificial heart that mimics the nominally with biocompatible materials and to the electronic onboard very sophisticated, the functioning of the human body.

The designer of this alternative to the heart transplant that gives rise to great hopes is none other than Professor Alain Carpentier, Director of the laboratory for the study of Hospital Cardiac prostheses and grafts European Georges-Pompidou, in Paris. "Originally an invention, there is always an emotion in which it draws the reasons to innovate", he says. "I do hated most of men, young and active, die in the quarantine of a massive myocardial infarction." "We have of course the solution of the heart transplant, but it does not meet the many needs, including the lack of plug-ins", he said.

You should know that this project out of the ordinary would never have been possible in the hexagon without long-term vision nor the unwavering support of Jean-Luc Lagardère. "Not wanting to create a specific laboratory, I was looking for a large structure specialized in high technology that meets all the necessary skills", says Professor Carpentier. "When I opened the doors of Matra Jean-Luc Lagardère, the only condition that I asked him to meet was to keep absolute confidentiality to have time to complete this project." This time, the French inventor will be not obliged to get industry in the United States partner, as he had especially to do to develop its bioprothesis valve, developed with the company American Edwards, that improve the quality of life of hundreds of thousands of patients in the world.

"Complex bioprothesis."

Fruit of twenty years of research and development, the artificial heart, protected by a series of patents will now fight independently in the new company Carmat, a spin off of the Aviation Group chaired by Jean-Claude Cadudal, former Vice-President of EADS. Next January, the start-up will move to new premises in Vélizy, on board a dozen specialists in electronics, biomaterials, mechanics and on-board, who participated in its design since the original. Never a young French innovative company obtained such public help to propel itself: EUR 33 million are to be granted by Oséo grants and repayable advances. However, this was not a simple matter to find a private in France investors because, of course, this project is too unusual to match the dashboard of the tricolour capitalists investment criteria. "We wanted to find a specialized investor who knows understand the human and financial project potential, and take risks," said Patrick Coulombier, Deputy Director General of the company Carmat, who led this program of R & D in the GIE Carmat (Carpentier-Matra), created in 1993. It is in this context that Philippe Pouletty, Director General of Truffle Capital, just to the first round table of Carmat, by injecting 5 million: "It is an iconic project responding to need medical and precursor in the next wave of the complex who biotechnology to replace tomorrow other deficient human organs such as liver or kidney." Of their sides, the two historic partners, EADS and the Foundation Carpentier then respectively 2 million and EUR 0.25 million, after having financed this project in own funds in the amount of EUR 15 million, since the start. Altogether, this médico-technologique adventure has mobilized EUR 55 million to date.

Techno-scientific strategy Professor Alain Carpentier he followed to succeed where Americans themselves are broken teeth for the moment, despite their multiple attempts for 30 years Trying to take advantage of all the previous failures: "testing on the artificial heart have always encountered the same problem." In contact with the foreign materials, the blood tends to form clots. "Never mind. The inventor of the valvular who can draw as they specifically avoid major inconvenience and do not require the taking of anti-coagulants by patients. In reality, this is not so simple. A second issue is grafted on the problem of materials. "I discovered that the blood flow inside the heart, called the hemodynamic, also play a key role." "I therefore attacked the problem on these two fronts and I have a very different technological choices of what exists in the United States," he said.

Electronic sensors

It took four years to find the shape and size best of the human bioprothèse, the more faithfully reproduce the normal physiology. With highly sophisticated electronic sensors derived from the know-how of the specialists of EADS in the field of missiles, this artificial heart has the ability to automatically respond to any change in the needs of the organization by variations of flow, heart rate or blood pressure. "The development of an artificial heart is exactly the same problem, the same constraints that the development of a system embedded as a calculator in an airplane or a satellite to operate independently for years", shows Patrick Coulombier. "The required performance are the same in terms of reliability, lifetime and robustness."

All the components of this prototype implantable in humans were subjected to tests on test equivalent to several years of operation. With private and public funds collected, the company will now achieve a dozen models of the artificial heart. "We hope, with the agreement of the Afssaps, start clinical trials in humans approximately two years in France and abroad," concludes Professor Alain Carpentier, who takes the scientific leadership of Carmat.