MEDICAL device and biomaterials company AorTech has signed an agreement with Dundee-based Vascular Flow Technologies (VFT) to develop its synthetic heart valve project.
The project involves detailed computational modelling and analysis of the pioneering heart valve which AorTech expects to further improve the design, manufacture and testing of the technology.
AIM-listed AorTech said it will also consider the first “in man” testing of the heart valve, depending on the results of the project. It recently concluded a £2.6 million fundraise that will enable the development of new products over the next two years using its Elast-Eon technology in soft tissue patches and grafts as well as advancing the company's artificial heart valve.
Lenzie-born Bill Brown, chairman of AorTech, which is registered in Scotland but based in Surrey, said that the agreement with VFT meant the company now has access to Europe’s leading experts in the combined field of medical imaging, guided finite element analysis and computational fluid dynamics. “Combining the design history with this groundbreaking imaging analysis should much improve the quality of the product design, reliability and performance,” he said.
Craig Dunlop, VFT’s general manager and director, said that he was impressed with the quantity and quality of AorTech’s data. He said: “We are very excited to be a key partner in the development of the next generation of prosthetic heart valves which should represent not only a step change in performance, but dramatically reduce the cost to manufacture these life-enhancing devices.”
VFT is a leading innovator focused on the research and development of proprietary platform technology to improve blood flow in compromised or diseased blood vessels.
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