Transcatheter Technologies GMBH

Article preview from Start-Up - May, 2012

A major limitation of existing transcatheter aortic heart valves is that they are unable to be repositioned once implanted. For these devices, the valve is mounted in a metal stent that contains a balloon, which is inflated once the valve is placed. The valve is then anchored to the heart wall. Transcatheter Technologies GMBH believes its fully repositionable Trinity valve will solve this shortcoming. Once Trinity is initially placed, cardiac surgeons or interventionalists can evaluate the valve function to determine whether the valve needs to be repositioned, retrieved or kept in the same position. Moreover, it allows for a controlled positioning, by slowly opening the valve stent, for a likely first-attempt correct placement.

Transcatheter Technologies GMBH

Article preview from Start-Up - May, 2012

An archer has only one chance to hit the bull’s eye with his bow and arrow; interventional cardiologists and cardiac surgeons also have only one attempt to precisely place a heart valve prosthesis. New technology developed by Transcatheter Technologies GMBH may solve this shortcoming. The next-generation Trinity system for the tanscatheter procedure is a “truly and fully repositionable valve,” says CEO Wolfgang Goetz, a cardiac surgeon by training.

 A major limitation of existing transcatheter aortic heart valves is that they are unable to be repositioned once implanted. For these devices, the valve is mounted in a metal stent that contains a balloon, which is inflated once the valve is placed. The valve is then anchored to the heart wall. “However, you are unable to revise the location of the valve,” Goetz states. “But with Trinity, once the valve is initially placed, you can fully evaluate the valve function to determine whether the valve needs to be repositioned, retrieved or kept in the same position.” Moreover, Trinity allows for a controlled positioning, by slowly opening the valve stent, for a likely first-attempt correct placement.

 Transcatheter Technologies will initially target older patients who are at high risk for cardiac surgery, presently representing around 130,000 patients annually worldwide, with a market cap of around $1 billion that is expected to grow to $2.5 billion in 2015. The company also has its eyes on the more lucrative younger patient market, which has at least three times the market value of older patients. “Currently, transcatheter valve leaflets are damaged when the stent is folded, and it is expected that the injury will reduce the long-term durability of the valve,” Goetz says. “We use the same material as surgical heart valve prostheses.” Unlike its competitors, though, the company’s stent design “does not crush the leaflets when the stent is folded onto the catheter system.”

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