Syntach, a Swedish medical device company, set out to build Syntach CS, "a groundbreaking, life-saving device for long-term cardiac support" for people with left ventricular heart failure. The implant was meant to restore the natural movement of the heart's mitral plane, working in time with the heart, with wireless monitoring and recharging and nothing passing through the skin.
The European Innovation Council awarded €2,500,000 towards a €25.7 million project planned from September 2022 to March 2027. According to the CORDIS periodic report, "the company has ceased operations on July 6, 2023, as result of not being able to raise capital to fund ongoing operations". The project was terminated on 4 September 2023. Syntach AB is still listed as active in the Swedish register, according to North Data, but at a care-of address, and its website shows only a default server page.
Company file
- Legal entity
- Syntach AB, 556630-2351, Sweden
- Registered address
- Care-of address, Helsingborg (CORDIS lists Lund)
- Register status
- Active; operations ceased 6 July 2023, per CORDIS
- Product
- Syntach CS implantable heart support device
- Other EU award
- €15M from the European Investment Bank, per CORDIS
- EIC project
- Heart Function Support, from 1 Sep 2022, terminated 4 Sep 2023
- EIC funding
- Blended finance
Where Syntach Stands Today
Syntach shut down its operations in July 2023. The Swedish register still lists the company as active, with the business purpose to "develop the product market for medical devices", but its registered address is a care-of address in Helsingborg rather than the Lund address in CORDIS. The website, syntach.com, returns a default web server page. We found no trial on ClinicalTrials.gov and no announcement of a restart or sale of the technology.
The Technology: Helping the Heart Move
According to CORDIS, Syntach CS aimed to restore the movement of the mitral plane, the base of the heart that moves with each beat, and to be fully implanted and "minimally invasive". During the project, "durability testing of Syntach CS (linear bearings inside drive unit) failed to meet product requirements", and the company began design and material revisions. That stretched the planned project from 55 to 76 months.
"The company (re)-contacted and updated over 100 investors. Several NDAs signed, but no term sheets signed."
Heart Function Support periodic report, CORDISWhat the EIC Project Promised, and What CORDIS Shows
The project was to take Syntach CS through development, design transfer, preclinical tests, a pilot study and a pivotal trial. The report says the company completed project management and parts of market work, development and design transfer, but never started the preclinical, pilot or pivotal work packages. It also reports "a €15 million EIB grant for the development of the Syntach CS System" and a Mexico-based family office that "had committed $2 million in funding but did not follow though".
- Device developmentPartlyDurability tests failed.
- Preclinical trialsMissedNever started.
- Pilot and pivotal trialsMissedNever started.
- Private co-fundingMissedNo term sheet signed.
What Has Happened Since the Award
The Money
CORDIS says Syntach received the €2.5 million EIC grant in September 2022. The award was blended finance, but the report mentions no EIC Fund investment. It also lists a €15 million award from the European Investment Bank, which the report calls a grant; how much of it, if any, was drawn is not stated. What happened to unspent EU money after the shutdown is not public.
What cannot be checked
Whether any of the EIC grant was recovered, whether the EIB money was paid out, and who now owns the Syntach CS technology are not public.
Why Europe Should Care
The EIC paid Syntach €2.5 million up front for a project whose €25.7 million budget depended on private investors who never signed. Ten months later the company shut down. The case shows how much an EIC grant for a capital-hungry medical device depends on the co-funding behind it.
What the project promised
A fully implantable heart support device, taken through preclinical and clinical trials.
What the record shows
Failed durability tests, no investor, operations ceased in July 2023 and no trial ever started.
The Verdict
Funded, then out of money
Syntach got its EIC grant but not the private money it needed. It stopped operating ten months into a 55-month project, with no device tested in animals or people.
Syntach has not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on EU project data and Swedish register information, linked throughout.
