Thoratec Announces Development Agreement With WiTricity For Proprietary Energy Transfer Technology

PLEASANTON, Calif., May 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Thoratec Corporation (NASDAQ: THOR), a world leader in device-based mechanical circulatory support therapies to save, support and restore failing hearts, today announced a technology development agreement with WiTricity Corporation relating to WiTricity's proprietary wireless resonant energy transfer technology for application in the field of mechanical circulatory support.

Through a collaborative effort over the past nine months, Thoratec and WiTricity engineers have demonstrated the ability to transfer power wirelessly to a HeartMate II ^® LVAD in order to start and run the pump in a setting that replicates the Fully Implantable Ventricular Assist System (FILVAS) application.  Under the announced development agreement, Thoratec will provide funding to WiTricity to further optimize its technology for use in a fully implantable HeartMate II system.  The agreement provides Thoratec with an option, exercisable at the completion of the development phase, to license the WiTricity technology for incorporation into the company's broader FILVAS program, initially targeted for the HeartMate II platform but with potential future applications in Thoratec's next-generation pump platforms, including HeartMate III and HeartMate X.

"We've been extremely impressed with the WiTricity team and core technology," said Laxmi Peri, Thoratec's vice president of research and development. "In particular, we believe the technology can enable user-friendly transcutaneous energy transmission in a FILVAS setting,  obviating the need for close coupling and perfect alignment between the system components," he added.

WiTricity's proprietary technology enables safe, high-efficiency wireless energy transfer, through the use of proprietary resonant coils, with potential applications in numerous industries.  By precisely matching and controlling the resonant frequencies of the two coils, the system enables energy to be transferred safely, with minimal loss to extraneous or off-resonant objects.  In the FILVAS setting, a power source coil would be positioned outside of the body, and a power capture coil would be implanted with the ventricular assist device.  Importantly, this technology could enable the placement of the external coil some distance away from the implanted coil, thus overcoming one of the historical obstacles of a FILVAS: the need for a very close and precise coupling of the coils.