Executive Summary

Endovalve has met some early milestones regarding the development of its percutaneous valve replacement system for treating mitral regurgitation. It has developed a to-scale functional model of the valve and anchor design, and has successfully demonstrated such feasibility criteria as foldability and deployment of the nitinol and stainless steel device, said the Princeton, New Jersey company. Bench testing on ex vivo sheep hearts has shown that when the valve device drops from the left atrium into the native mitral valve, it pushes away the native leaflets and is seated in place. The product's valve claws have also been shown to be able to "anchor" themselves onto the native annulus. Endovalve is now working on refining and optimising the valve's functionality, with a view to implanting the device in a live animal model.