HeartWare International (NSDQ:HTWR) acquired World Heart Corp. (NSDQ:WHRT) for $8 million, to be paid in either stock or cash at World Heart shareholders’ preference.
World Heart owns more than 100 patents and patent applications in the ventricular assistance space, including for its PediaFlow pediatric and MiFlow adult VADs.
"In line with our goal to be a leader in the VAD market for years to come, we believe that bolstering our patent portfolio and adding World Heart’s technologies broadens our options for the future," HeartWare president & CEO Doug Godshall said in prepared remarks.
Under the agreement each share of World Heart common stock will be converted into the right to purchase an equivalent in HeartWare shares or will be paid out in cash.
World Heart cut 77% of its workforce last month, leaving behind a skeleton crew of 6 employees to push ahead development of its MiFlow heart pump while the company explored “various corporate strategic options."
Last summer the Salt Lake City, Utah-based company laid off 21 employees and officially pulled the plug on clinical trials of the company’s Levacor VAD in order to focus on the MiFlow VAD, which is essentially an adult version of its PediaFlow device, a small, magnetically levitated, rotary pediatric ventricular assist device that is intended for use in newborns and infants.
HeartWare has an April date with the FDA to review its implantable HVAD rotary blood pump, designed for end-stage heart disease patients who are waiting for a transplant – a so-called "bridge-to-transplant" therapy. The federal watchdog agency recently granted the company approval to extend a pivotal trial of its HVAD system to an additional 54 patients.
WHRT shares were up 0.4% to about 28¢ and HTWR was up 0.1% to $66.81 as of about 10:20 a.m.
