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 Carmat shares were down by 18.5 percent at 27.50 euros in morning
trading, with around 40 million euros ($42.5 million) wiped off its
stock market value.
Carmat Chief Executive Stephane Piat said in a statement on
Wednesday that the artificial heart was not involved in the
patient's death, and that the company's last three implantations had
functioned normally.
A spokeswoman for the French drugs agency said it had requested
further information from Carmat following the patient's death. The
patient, who died in October, had the artificial heart implanted at
the end of August and is the fifth patient to die with one fitted.
Carmat's products could represent a major medical breakthrough if
proven reliable.
They are designed for people with end-stage heart failure, a deadly
condition where the heart is unable to pump blood adequately around
the body - an alternative to heart transplants given the shortage of
donor organs.
Carmat has not generated any significant revenue but is closely
followed by investors as heart diseases represent a leading cause of
death worldwide.
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Carmat shares are down by around 30 percent since the start of 2016,
underperforming a 14 percent decline in the broader STOXX Europe 600
Healthcare index.
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Dominique Vidalon; Editing by
Andrew Callus)
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