Even with all of the advances and options in heart failure therapy, there remain no real options for a large number of patients who are seriously ill but not yet at the end-stage of the disease. CircuLite hopes to change that with a partial support device for patients who don’t need a VAD.

BioStar Ventures, founded by physicians who are leaders in the interventional cardiology field, is demonstrating how medical device investors might benefit with close ties to clinical and corporate worlds.

Among the most extraordinary developments both in clinical medicine and in the medical device industry over the past 30 years has been the birth and growth of interventional cardiology. IN VIVO remembers Donald Baim, one of the pioneers of the field, who died on November 6, 2009 at the age of 60.

Device giant Medtronic and venture capital leader Sofinnova have teamed up to see if they can help seed the promising ground of device start-ups in Europe, providing an outlet for novel ideas of the continent's physicians.