ATLANTA, Oct. 23, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- MIV Therapeutics, Inc. (OTCBB:MIVT) (Frankfurt:MIV), a leading developer of next-generation coatings and advanced drug delivery systems for cardiovascular stents and other implantable medical devices, announces that Alexandre Abizaid, M.D., Ph.D., Chief of Coronary Intervention of Institute Dante Pazzanese of Cardiology in Sao Paulo, Brazil, performed one live four-month follow-up case from the MIVT pilot trial at the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) 2007 conference yesterday, during which angiographic, IVUS and OCT studies were conducted. This patient represented the 14th follow-up patient in the 15-patient First-in-Man pilot study with the VESTASYNC Polymer-Free HAp-Coated Sirolimus-Eluting Stent. The 15th patient, who was a back-up patient, if required for this live case in the event that the 14th patient was unable to undergo the procedure, will be followed up shortly, bringing to a close the four-month follow-up of the study.
In a separate case during the same live presentation, Dr. Abizaid also implanted a VESTASYNC stent into a new patient. At the conclusion of the live presentation both patients were doing well.
Assisted by his colleagues, Dr. Abizaid, Principal Investigator for the study, performed the procedures from the Institute Dante Pazzanese of Cardiology in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in front of thousands of TCT attendees in the main auditorium of the Washington Convention Center via satellite feed.
On October 21st, at the TCT 2007 conference, Dr. Abizaid presented four-month follow-up efficacy data on 13 patients in the 15-patient study, which by angiography showed average late-lumen loss of 0.27 mm (+/-0.27) in-stent and 0.18 mm (+/-0.31) in-lesion, and zero percent restenosis. IVUS analysis showed volumetric obstruction of only 2.8% (+/-2.4). All patients were thrombosis-free. The reason why only 13 patients were presented on Sunday is because of plans that the Company had made to enable this live follow-up presentation at the TCT conference so the attendees could participate in the collection of this exciting four-month data.
Dr. Mark Landy, president of MIV Therapeutics, said, "We were honored to have been given the opportunity to implant a VESTASYNC stent and share one of our four-month follow-up cases live with the prestigious gathering of industry leaders from around the world. We are pleased with the data gathered so far from the First-in-Man pilot study with our VESTASYNC stent and look forward to conducting future studies."
About MIV Therapeutics
MIV Therapeutics is developing a next-generation line of advanced biocompatible coatings for passive and drug-eluting applications on cardiovascular stents, as well as for a broad range of other implantable medical devices. The Company's ultra-thin coating formulation is designed to protect surrounding tissue from potentially harmful interactions with bare metallic stents. This coating platform is derived from hydroxyapatite (HAp), an organic material that has demonstrated excellent in vivo safety and biocompatibility. Hydroxyapatite is a porous material that makes up the bone mineral and matrix of teeth, and is widely used today as a bone substitute material and for coatings on implantable fixation devices in orthopedic, dental and other applications. The Company's novel polymer-free drug-eluting technologies based on HAp could also provide an attractive alternative to current polymer-based drug-eluting coatings on the stent market, which have been associated with undesirable effects. The Company's drug-eluting coatings are additionally designed to suit a broad range of implantable medical devices that could benefit from highly customizable drug release profiles. MIV Therapeutics has a Collaborative Research Agreement with the University of British Columbia and has received a government grant for its research program on the "Development of Novel Drug Eluting Composite Coatings for Cardiovascular Stents," under the National Research Council-Industrial Research Assistance Program. Under this sponsorship, the Company is expected to complete its drug-eluting research and development program and to reach product commercialization. MIV's intellectual property portfolio includes patents held by the University of British Columbia and exclusively licensed to MIV. Key patent applications filed simultaneously in various countries around the world further protect the commercial exclusivity of MIV's inventions in the global marketplace. For more information, please visit www.mivtherapeutics.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this press release are forward-looking statements. Such statements are indicated by words or phrases such as "proposed," "expected," "believe," "will," "breakthrough," "significant," "indicated," "feel," "revolutionary," "should," "ideal," "extremely" and "excited." These statements are made under "Safe Harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements and are subject to risks and uncertainties including, without limitation, the ability of the Company to raise sufficient funding and to continue to develop its various business interests as presently contemplated. See the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission including, without limitation, the Company's recent Form 10-K and Form 10-Qs, which identify specific factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements.