AEI -- Despite the tremendous success modern medicine has had in treating coronary heart disease, heart failure has proved to be a formidable and significantly less treatable condition. The small drug armamentarium used to treat it is only modestly effective. Left ventricular assist devices, or “heart pumps,” are proving to be the best available option for patients with advanced heart failure, and the technology has huge potential for improvement. The development and use of these devices are both at an early stage, however, and innovation could easily be slowed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with unnecessary clinical requirements and other hurdles that retard device innovation and access.
