EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn., Feb. 28, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sunshine Heart, Inc. (Nasdaq:SSH), today announced that on February 27, 2014, the Compensation Committee of its Board of Directors approved eleven equity awards under Sunshine Heart's New-Hire Equity Incentive Plan, as material inducements to eleven individuals' entering into employment with the Company. The equity awards were approved in accordance with NASDAQ Listing Rule 5635(c)(4), which also requires a public announcement of equity awards that are not made under a stockholder approved equity plan.
In connection with their entering into employment with Sunshine Heart, the eleven individuals, who were not previously employees or directors of Sunshine Heart, received options to purchase an aggregate of 55,700 shares of the Company's common stock. Ten of the eleven options have an exercise price of $8.61 per share, which is equal to the closing price of the Company's common stock on February 27, 2014. One of the options, for 2,500 shares, will be granted effective March 5, 2014, and will have an exercise price equal to the closing price of the Company's common stock on that date. All eleven options have ten-year terms and vest over a period of four years, with 25% vesting one year after the date of grant and the remaining 75% vesting in 36 approximately equal monthly increments, provided the new hire's employment is continuing on each such date, and subject to acceleration or forfeiture upon the occurrence of certain events as set forth in the new hire's option agreement.
About Sunshine® Heart
Sunshine Heart, Inc. is an early-stage medical device company focused on developing, manufacturing and commercializing the C-Pulse System for treatment of Class III and ambulatory Class IV heart failure. Sunshine Heart has completed an approved U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) feasibility clinical trial of the C-Pulse System and presented the results in November 2011. In March 2012, the FDA notified the Company that it could move forward with an investigational device exemption (IDE) application. Sunshine Heart received unconditional approval from the FDA in November 2012 to initiate its pivotal trial. In July 2012 Sunshine Heart received CE Mark approval for its C-Pulse System in Europe. Sunshine Heart is a Delaware corporation headquartered in Minneapolis with a wholly owned subsidiary in Australia. The Company has been listed on the NASDAQ Capital Market since February 2012.
About the C-Pulse® Heart Assist System
The C-Pulse Heart Assist System, or C-Pulse System, an investigational device in the United States, Canada and countries that do not recognize the CE mark approval, utilizes the scientific principles of intra-aortic balloon counter-pulsation applied in an extra-aortic approach to assist the left ventricle by reducing the workload required to pump blood throughout the body, while increasing blood flow to the coronary arteries. Combined, these potential benefits may help sustain the patient's current condition or, in some cases, reverse the heart failure process, thereby potentially preventing the need for later-stage heart failure devices, such as left ventricular assist devices (LVADs), artificial hearts or transplants. It may also provide relief from the symptoms of Class III and ambulatory Class IV heart failure and improve quality of life and cardiac function. Based on the results from our feasibility trial, we also believe that some patients treated with our C-Pulse System will be able to stop using the device due to sustained improvement in their conditions as a result of the therapy.
Caution: Investigational device, limited by Federal (or United States) Law to Investigational use.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this release are forward-looking statements that are based on management's beliefs, assumptions and expectations and information currently available to management. All statements that address future operating performance, events or developments that we expect or anticipate will occur in the future are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, our expectations with respect to future clinical trial activities and results including patient enrollment in trials. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, the possibility that our clinical trials do not meet their enrollment goals, meet their end-points or otherwise fail, that regulatory authorities do not accept our application or approve the marketing of the C-Pulse System, the possibility that we may be unable to raise the funds necessary for the development and commercialization of our products, that we may not be able to commercialize our products successfully in the EU and the other risk factors described under the caption "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements because they speak only as of the date when made and may turn out to be inaccurate. We do not assume any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. We may not actually achieve the plans, projections or expectations disclosed in forward-looking statements, and actual results, developments or events could differ materially from those disclosed in the forward-looking statements.