DC Devices Inc.

Article preview from Start-Up - June, 2013

DC Devices Inc. has developed the first transcatheter, permanent implant for treating heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. The implant, placed in the atrial septum, creates a small, controlled shunt, allowing blood to move from the higher-pressure left atrium to the lower pressure, more compliant right atrium; this serves to reduce left atrial pressure and relieve HF symptoms, without compromising cardiac output.

DC Devices Inc.

Article preview from Start-Up - June, 2013

Patients with diastolic heart failure (DHF), also known as heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), are increasing in number, but have no effective therapeutic options available to them. This patient group, which accounts for more than half of the nearly six million Americans who are currently living with HF, represents a revolving door of hospital admissions, spiraling health care costs, and a high mortality rate that rivals that of cancer. A device solution that could dramatically increase the quality of life for these patients and potentially slow disease progression is urgently needed, and Tewksbury, MA-based start-up DC Devices Inc. is hoping it has the answer, with its first-of-its-kind structural heart device.

DC Devices, just emerging out of stealth mode, was founded by David Celermajer, an interventional cardiologist and the Scandrett Professor of Cardiology at the University of Sydney in Australia. Celermajer is also director of echocardiography and cardiology at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and clinical director at the Heart Research Institute, Sydney. Celemajer and his team developed intellectual property based on his expertise in elevated left atrial pressure and its role in HF, and his lengthy experience in closing atrial septal defects (ASDs). ASDs are an open communication between the right and left atrium of the heart, and Celemajer noticed in his research that HF patients with this defect fared much better than other HF patients. This gave him the idea of creating a shunt in the atrial septum, which potentially could help an enormous population of HFpEF patients with no device therapy options. Celemajer’s novel concept was developed into the InterAtrial Shunt Device (IASD) system, and with initial funding from US investors, DC Devices started up in 2009 to commercialize the technology.

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