The ZOLL facility in Pittsburgh, PA is a subsidiary of ZOLL Medical Corporation. Information about ZOLL is available at http://www.zoll.com.
The LifeVest was developed by Dr. M. Stephen Heilman and a team of former Medrad/Intec employees who were responsible for developing and introducing the world's first implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD). The LifeVest business was acquired by ZOLL Medical Corporation in 2006.
Dr. Arthur Feldman, professor and chief, Division of Cardiology, at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, was the lead investigator for the US clinical trials. The LifeVest was extensively tested for three years in 17 major medical centers across the US and involved 289 patients world-wide. The clinical data collected from those trials allowed ZOLL to obtain FDA approval for use of the LifeVest in the US. (Read about the clinical trials.)