Thoratec Rises 12% on Heart Device News
Thoratec Corp. shares rose 12% after a committee recommended expanding Medicare benefits for the company’s devices, which help damaged hearts pump blood.
Medicare, the U.S. government health insurance program for the disabled and elderly, should pay for the devices in patients too sick to receive heart transplants, the advisory panel said. Medicare now covers the product only in patients awaiting transplants.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services must decide whether expanding the eligibility for the device is “reasonable and necessary.”
Thoratec had $130.8 million in sales in 2002. Its HeartMate and VAD devices have been given to more than 5,600 patients, the company said.
Shares of the Pleasanton, Calif.-based company rose 95 cents to $9 on Nasdaq.
