In heart failure with reduced ejection fraction the heart pumps weakly, and Cardiac Success describes a "cycle of deterioration" in which the ventricle keeps enlarging. Cardiac Success, a company in Yokneam Illit, Israel, developed Vsling, an implant delivered through a catheter that is meant to reshape the ventricle and, in the company's words, reverse "the vicious cycle".
The European Innovation Council granted €2,500,000 towards an €8.53 million project that ran from May 2022 to April 2026; the company cites €10 million from the EIC in grants and equity. By the project's reporting, "a small number of patients" had been treated in a first-in-human study in Georgia and Israel. The follow-on Vsling III trial on ClinicalTrials.gov, planned for 10 patients, was still listed as not yet recruiting. Vsling remains an investigational device.
Company file
- Legal entity
- Cardiac Success Ltd., Yokneam Illit, Israel
- Device
- Vsling transcatheter ventricular repair implant
- Indication
- Heart failure with reduced ejection fraction
- Clinical
- First-in-human study in Georgia and Israel; Vsling III (NCT06002386) registered
- Regulatory
- "Investigational device, restricted to investigational use by law"
- EIC project
- V-sling, 1 May 2022 to 30 Apr 2026
- EIC funding
- Blended finance
Where Cardiac Success Stands Today
Cardiac Success's website presents Vsling as "a new approach for treating heart failure patients with reduced ejection fraction" and marks it as an investigational device. Its news page on the EIC award now highlights a Belarusian television feature. The Vsling III record, last updated in January 2025, estimated a start in August 2025 and primary completion in March 2026, but still showed the trial as not yet recruiting.
The Technology: A Sling for the Ventricle
Vsling is placed through a catheter rather than open-heart surgery and is designed to reduce the size of the dilated ventricle, which the company says halts "the cycle of deterioration" and can initiate "heart recovery". According to the CORDIS report, interim results showed improvements in quality of life on the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire and in six-minute walk tests, in patients followed for up to 18 months.
"Reshaping the heart. Reversing the vicious cycle."
Cardiac Success websiteWhat the EIC Project Promised, and What CORDIS Shows
The project promised a "transcatheter ventricular repair device for treatment of heart failure patients". CORDIS reports "a small number of patients" treated, without a count, and plans to expand the study to Lithuania, the Czech Republic and Poland. It reports no CE mark or other approval.
- First-in-human useDeliveredSmall number of patients.
- Early clinical benefitPartialInterim quality-of-life gains.
- European trial expansionNot shownPlanned; next trial not recruiting.
- Regulatory approvalNot shownStill investigational.
What Has Happened Since the Award
The Money
The award was blended finance. Cardiac Success cites €10 million from the EIC in grants and equity; CORDIS records the grant at €2.5 million. We found no EIC Fund portfolio listing or other funding announcement. Israeli company records were not accessible for this article.
What cannot be checked
How many patients have been treated, whether the EIC equity was invested, and when a larger trial will start are not public.
Why Europe Should Care
A catheter-based way to reshape a failing heart would be a new option for heart failure patients. The EIC backed that aim with a four-year project. After four years, the device has reached a small number of patients outside the EU and has not started its larger study.
What the project promised
A transcatheter ventricular repair device for heart failure patients.
What the record shows
A small first-in-human study with encouraging interim signs; still investigational after four years.
The Verdict
Slow progress for a large promise
Vsling has been tested in people and early signs are positive, by the company's account. But a four-year EIC project ended with an unspecified small number of patients, no approval and a follow-on trial still waiting to recruit.
Cardiac Success has not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on company statements, EU project data and the trial registry, linked throughout.
