CARMAT (FR0010907956, ALCAR), the designer and developer of the world’s most advanced total artificial heart, aiming to fulfill an unmet medical need by providing a therapeutic alternative to people suffering from end-stage biventricular heart failure, today announces that it has been granted €13 million in funding by the French Ministry of Health and Solidarity to conduct the EFICAS clinical study, already approved by the HAS (the French health authority) last April.

Through the budget agreement with the French Ministry of Health and Solidarity, two thirds of the total cost of the EFICAS study will be funded by the French state, which represents non-dilutive financing of €13 million for CARMAT.

EFICAS is a prospective, multicenter, non-randomized study that is expected to include 52 patients (cohort 1) implanted with the CARMAT heart as a bridge to transplantation. The primary objective of the study is survival for 180 days after implantation of the device without a disabling stroke, or a successful heart transplant within 180 days of implantation.

Moreover, all 52 patients will be compared to a second cohort (cohort 2) of patients receiving standard bridge to transplant therapies in a cost-effectiveness analysis. Data from this cohort, composed of transplant candidates meeting the eligibility criteria for the study, except for the anatomical compatibility criterion for the CARMAT heart, will also be collected prospectively.

The EFICAS study aims to demonstrate the efficacy and safety of the CARMAT Total Artificial Heart in patients suffering from irreversible biventricular heart failure as a bridge to transplantation, and its superiority over existing treatments for the same target patient population in terms of cost and effectiveness.

Patient enrollment in the five selected hospitals is expected to start in the second quarter of 2021.

CARMAT confirms that its available financial resources allow the company to fund its activities until mid-2021.

Stéphane Piat, Chief Executive Officer of CARMAT, says: “First and foremost, we are grateful to the Ministry of Health for this substantial financial support that makes this very important study possible. This major clinical trial in the Mechanical Circulatory Support segment will allow us to both collect data in order to drive product adoption and establish the Health Economic model that will support the pricing of the service that CARMAT aims to provide. It will ultimately support our request for reimbursement of the prosthesis in France for the commercial phase.”