Thoratec Announces Preliminary Second Quarter Revenue

PLEASANTON, Calif., July 22, 2015 -- Thoratec Corporation (THOR), a world leader in mechanical circulatory support therapies to save, support and restore failing hearts, announced preliminary unaudited revenue in the range of $128 million to $129 million for the second quarter of 2015.

"Our strong second quarter performance resulted from a broad increase in utilization of our products globally, driven in particular by favorable trends in our North American HeartMate franchise," said D. Keith Grossman, President and Chief Executive Officer.  "We continued to make progress with our commercial initiatives and clinical trials, and we are pleased to see a positive impact from these efforts," he added.

In a separate announcement today, Thoratec disclosed that it has entered into an agreement and plan of merger with St. Jude Medical pursuant to which St. Jude Medical would acquire all of the outstanding shares of Thoratec's common stock.

Thoratec will release financial results for the second quarter on Tuesday, August 4.  The company will hold a conference call to discuss its financial results and operating activities, open to all interested parties, at 1:30 p.m., Pacific Daylight Time (4:30 p.m., Eastern Daylight Time), Tuesday, August 4.  However, due to the pending transaction with St. Jude Medical, the company will not be hosting a question and answer session during the second quarter conference call.

The teleconference can be accessed by calling (719) 325-2320, passcode 5828271.  Please dial in 10-15 minutes prior to the beginning of the call.  The webcast will be available on the Internet at http://edge.media-server.com/m/p/ebe8yshy/lan/en, or http://www.thoratec.com.

A replay of the conference call will be available through Tuesday, August 11, via http://www.thoratec.com, or by telephone at (719) 457-0820, passcode 5828271.

About Thoratec

Thoratec is a world leader in therapies to address advanced-stage heart failure.  The company's products include the HeartMate II® and HeartMate 3™ LVAS (Left Ventricular Assist Systems) and Thoratec® VAD (Ventricular Assist Device) with more than 20,000 devices implanted in patients suffering from heart failure.  Thoratec also manufactures and distributes the CentriMag®, PediMag®/PediVAS®, and HeartMate PHP™ product lines.  HeartMate 3 and HeartMate PHP are investigational devices and are limited by US law to investigational use. Thoratec is headquartered in Pleasanton, California.  For more information, visit the company's website at http://www.thoratec.com.

Thoratec, the Thoratec logo, HeartMate, and HeartMate II are registered trademarks of Thoratec Corporation and HeartMate 3, HeartMate PHP, and IVAD are trademarks of Thoratec Corporation.  CentriMag and PediMag are registered trademarks of Thoratec LLC, and PediVAS is a registered trademark of Thoratec Switzerland GmbH.

Thoratec's consolidated financial data for the second quarter of 2015 has not been finalized.  Thoratec's expectations with respect to the preliminary unaudited results for the second quarter discussed above are based upon its estimates and subject to completion of its financial closing procedures. This summary is not a comprehensive statement of Thoratec's financial results for this period, and Thoratec's actual results upon completion of Thoratec's financial close procedures may differ materially from these estimates. The preceding paragraphs contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Sections 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements can be identified by the words, "believes," "views," "expects," "should," "hopes," "could," "will," "estimates," "potential," and other similar words. Actual results, events or performance could differ materially from these forward-looking statements based on a variety of factors, many of which are beyond Thoratec's control. Therefore, readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on these statements. Investors are cautioned that all such statements involve risks and uncertainties, including risks related to regulatory approvals, the growth of existing markets for our products, customer and physician acceptance of Thoratec products, the effects of international and FDA regulatory requirements, our ability to address quality issues adequately and on a timely basis without a resulting recall of products or interruption of manufacturing or shipment of products, and the effects of healthcare reimbursement and coverage policies. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release should be considered in light of these factors and those factors discussed from time to time in Thoratec's public reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, such as those discussed under the heading, "Risk Factors," in Thoratec's most recent annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and other SEC filings. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof. Thoratec undertakes no obligation to publicly release the results of any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof, or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.