Carmat and the EIC Accelerator: An Artificial Heart in Liquidation

Carmat, a French medical device company listed in Paris, developed Aeson, a total artificial heart for people with end-stage failure of both ventricles. Its EIC project described "the world's most advanced total artificial heart" and set out to move from a bridge to transplant towards "physiologic heart replacement therapy", according to CORDIS. By the time of its report, 108 patients had been treated with Aeson, the longest for more than 25 months.

The European Innovation Council granted €2,500,000 towards an €11.56 million project from October 2022 to June 2025. The report says supply problems were largely fixed by mid-2023, that the Bois d'Arcy plant was being extended towards a capacity of 500 hearts a year, and that the company expected to make 60 to 70 hearts in 2023, train more hospitals, launch in eight new countries and pursue the EFICAS trial in France and talks with the US FDA. According to the French official gazette BODACC, Carmat stopped paying its debts on 30 June 2025, the day the project ended, and entered receivership (redressement judiciaire) on 1 July. On 1 December a court approved the sale of its business, and on 6 January 2026 it ordered the liquidation of Carmat SA.

Where Carmat Stands Now

The business now continues in Carmat SAS, a new company controlled by Pierre Bastid, Carmat's chairman and a shareholder of about 17%, and funded equally with Santé Holding, the Ligresti family's holding, with €30 million of fresh money, Génération NT reported. The offer kept 88 of 127 employees. A first offer from Bastid had been rejected in September 2025 for lack of funds. Carmat said it was highly probable that shareholders would lose their entire investment and that many creditors would lose most or all of their claims, SOS Coeur reported, quoting the company's release. Carmat SAS plans to pursue the North American market and a trial for use as a permanent therapy in Europe.

The Technology: A Self-Regulating Heart

Aeson is an electro-hydraulic implant shaped like a human heart that replaces both ventricles. The report says it differs from other artificial hearts by combining pulsatility, autoregulation and hemocompatibility, and that its cumulative clinical experience reached 44 patient-years. It is sold in the EU as a bridge to heart transplant.

What the EIC Project Promised, and What CORDIS Shows

The report, from the project's early phase, documents recovery from supply problems, plant expansion, hospital training and trial preparation. It does not show the new indication the project title promised, and the company collapsed financially as the project closed. CORDIS lists the project as closed but has no final report.

1. Production restoredDeliveredBy summer 2023.
2. Capacity of 500 a yearUnverifiedTarget, end 2023.
3. Heart replacement therapyNot reachedStill bridge to transplant.
4. Company survivalFailedLiquidated, January 2026.

The Money

Carmat's accounts for its last years were filed with the French register, but the company's results releases could not be retrieved for this article. What is on the record is the outcome: the liquidator was appointed on 6 January 2026, and the company warned that shareholders and most creditors would lose most or all of what they were owed. Whether any of the EIC's blended finance was equity has not been disclosed.

What Cannot Be Checked

Why Europe Should Care

Carmat described Aeson as "a credible therapeutic alternative to heart transplants" for patients with end-stage heart failure. The EIC backed its scale-up. The company failed anyway, and the technology survives only because its chairman and a historic shareholder bought it out of receivership.

The Verdict

Carmat's liquidator and the EIC have not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on public records and published statements, linked throughout.