Abbott Releases Late-Breaking HeartMate 3 LVAD Data

Abbott released new, late-breaking data from its MOMENTUM 3 trial during this year’s European Society of Cardiology Congress showing that its HeartMate 3 heart pump extends heart failure patients’ survival by “at least five years.”
 
MOMENTUM 3, according to the company, is the largest clinical trial evaluating long-term outcomes in patients received a left ventricular assist device (LVAD, or heart pump) for advanced heart failure. The trial studied over 1,000 patients.
 
“The MOMENTUM 3 study proves that the HeartMate 3 heart pump has significantly moved the needle in terms of options for increasing life expectancy for our most advanced heart failure patients,” Divya Gupta, M.D., medical director of Advanced Heart Failure and Heart Transplantation at Emory Healthcare, told the press. “This research shows strong consideration should be given for this life-extending therapy for the thousands of people who are in advanced heart failure and meet the indications for the HeartMate 3.”
 
The latest MOMENTUM 3 data also demonstrated the five-year survival for HeartMate 3 patients (nearly 60%) is approaching the five-year survival rates of heart transplant recipients with a similar risk profile.
 
“Thousands of people with advanced heart failure die every year because they do not receive a heart pump, largely because their physicians are not aware of the option or its full benefits,” said Keith Boettiger, VP of Abbott’s heart failure business. “There are too many patients who aren’t provided the opportunity to be evaluated for a heart pump, such as patients with obesity, diabetes, certain cancers and blood types or those from underserved communities across the United States. With broader awareness and improved access to a heart pump, we can give these patients a chance at a longer, fuller life.”
 
Abbott’s HeartMate 3 features Full MagLev, which “suspends” the devices rotor with magnetic forces to reduce trauma to blood passing through the pump. HeartMate 3 also generates an artificial pulse.
 
Some stats Abbott presented demonstrating superiority of HeartMate 3 over the previous generation HeartMate II:

• Improved survival rate of 58% with the HeartMate 3 vs. 44% with the HeartMate II.
• Greater survival for HeartMate 3 patients largely associated with reduction in deaths due to stroke, clotting, and bleeding compared to the HeartMate II.