Growth Strategies

We will build upon our success in 2010 with strategies to both further develop the MCS market in the near-term and bolster our leadership position over the long-term as we leverage our solid balance sheet and strong technology, as well as our established infrastructure for clinical support, training and education, reimbursement, and market development.

Our expanded efforts targeted to the referring cardiologist community will highlight the advances HeartMate II has brought to the field of MCS through a wide range of education and training events, which will address patient selection and management. Center development initiatives will be focused not only on initiating activity at new HeartMate II DT centers, but also on helping existing centers increase their capacity for VAD activity. An important initiative will be the implementation of a site-specific clinical outcomes program to help centers realize reduced hospitalization, readmissions, bleeding and infections for VAD patients.

These center development programs will also serve our goal to address opportunities in markets outside North America as we expect to add a number of new HeartMate II centers in both Europe and Asia Pacific during the year. We also plan to increase our commercial presence in newer markets, such as Australia, and expect that the first HeartMate II implants in Korea and India will occur during 2011.

The ongoing generation of data demonstrating the positive outcomes with the
HeartMate II will continue to be an integral part of our strategy. During 2011, we expect to see a continuation of impactful HeartMate II data presentations and peer-reviewed articles in leading professional publications. We also expect to initiate a series of