TSX Venture Exchange: NVC
VANCOUVER, Nov. 13, 2013 /PRNewswire/ - Neovasc Inc. (TSXV:
NVC) today announced that the first patent covering the company's
innovative Tiara™ transcatheter mitral valve replacement technology
has been issued by the US Patent and Trademark Office. The new
patent protects key aspects of the Tiara mitral valve prosthesis.
It is the first patent to issue from a portfolio of US and
international patent applications Neovasc has filed aimed at
establishing an extensive intellectual property estate covering the
entire Tiara program, including the prosthesis, delivery system,
associated accessories and methods of use. Tiara is in
development for the treatment of severe mitral valve
disease.
"The issuance of this first patent in the Tiara portfolio
represents a significant milestone for the company," said
Alexei Marko, CEO of Neovasc. "With
this key intellectual property protection now assured and the
successful completion of the majority of our preclinical studies,
Neovasc is advancing the Tiara development program according to
plan. We are working with the highly respected medical teams at
Vancouver's St. Paul's Hospital and the Antwerp
Cardiovascular Center, ZNA Middelheim to plan the first-in-human
Tiara trials, which we expect to get underway in 2014."
Tiara is a self-expanding bioprosthesis specifically designed to
treat mitral valve regurgitation (MR), a serious and poorly served
condition that requires development of highly specialized devices
to address the complex mitral anatomy. Severe mitral regurgitation
can lead to heart failure and death. Conventional surgical
treatments are only appropriate for a small percentage of the
millions of patients with MR, including an estimated four million
in the US alone.
Results from preclinical studies of Tiara were recently
published in the journal JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions
and presented at the 25th Annual Transcatheter
Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium.
US Patent No. 8,579,964, "Transcatheter Mitral Valve
Prosthesis," was issued by the US Patent and Trademark Office
on November 12, 2013.
About Neovasc Inc.
Neovasc Inc. is a specialty medical device company that develops,
manufactures and markets products for the rapidly growing global
cardiovascular marketplace. Its products include the Neovasc
Reducer™ for the treatment of refractory angina and the Tiara™
transcatheter mitral value replacement device in development for
the treatment of mitral regurgitation. In addition, Neovasc's
advanced biological tissue products are widely used as key
components in a variety of third-party medical products, such as
transcatheter heart valves. For more information, visit:
www.neovasc.com.
Statements contained herein that are not based on historical
or current fact, including without limitation statements containing
the words "anticipates," "believes," "may," "continues,"
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general economic and business conditions, both nationally and in
the regions in which the Company operates; history of losses and
lack of and uncertainty of revenues, ability to obtain required
financing, receipt of regulatory approval of product candidates,
ability to properly integrate newly acquired businesses, technology
changes; competition; changes in business strategy or development
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existing governmental regulations and changes in, or the failure to
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Company believes that expectations conveyed by the forward-looking
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on the date such statements were made, no assurances can be given
as to the future results, approvals or achievements. Given these
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SOURCE Neovasc Inc.
