Originally Published MX May/June 2002

COVER STORY

Getting to the
Heart of the Matter

After
two decades, Abiomed president and CEO David M. Lederman looks forward to accomplishing
a national mission.

Interview by
Steve Halasey

Considering the competitive
environment in which medical technology companies do business, it's by no means
a certainty that any given company will survive long enough to reach the market
with its products. Add in the challenges of advanced research, complex technologies,
and high-level regulatory requirements, and you've got a recipe for almost certain
company disaster.



That's what makes the achievement of Abiomed (Danvers, MA) so impressive. With
all of those factors aligned against it, the company has managed to thrive for
more than two decades while steadily making progress on the development of its
fully implantable artificial replacement heart, called the AbioCor.

Founded in 1981, Abiomed
has been led from the beginning by David M. Lederman, PhD, company founder, president,
and CEO. An aerospace engineer by training, Lederman came to the medical field