Australia invests $50m in advanced artificial heart technology

It is the third-largest investment from the Medical Research Future Fund.

The Australian Government allocated $50m to support the development and commercialisation of the world’s most advanced artificial heart.

This fund, which will come from the Medical Research Future Fund, will support the Artificial Heart Frontiers Programme–composed of five major universities, three clinical partners and an Australian-grown company–that will develop the next-generation cardiac technology Total Artificial Heart.

The Total Artificial Heart technology will curb the rate of heart failure in Australia and globally, and contribute over $1.8b to Australian society.

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“This will give hope to the half a million Australians who suffer from heart failure. As well as the obvious health benefits, this is an incredible story of Australian ingenuity and sovereign manufacturing, with collaboration across universities, clinical hospitals and industry to develop the world’s most advanced artificial heart,” Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler.

Currently, over 500,000 Australians have lived with heart failure, and 60,000 are hospitalised from the diagnosis.