Medical Device Company Developing Implant for Patients with Heart Valve Disease

Direct Flow Medical has developed a catheter-based system to replace the aortic valve percutaneously in patients with valvular disease. The investigational device is an implantable pericardial tissue valve that allows simple delivery via a transfemoral approach.  Its easy positioning (or repositioning) and retrieval features are intended to enable physicians to correctly size and place the device in its targeted location providing a new level of safety for patients.  The design also is intended to allow the physician to obtain full hemodynamic data and imaging prior to final device placement. This is a revolutionary procedure, with an addressable market of $3.7 billion per annum, before accounting for new patients that had been previously left untreated as they were unsuitable for open-heart surgery. ePlanet Ventures Director, Martin Dieck, commented, “We believe that the Direct Flow technology represents a revolutionary step forward in how patients with valvular disease will be treated in the future.”

“We are very pleased to invest in Direct Flow, and are excited by the company’s prospects” said Asad Jamal, Chairman and CEO of ePlanet Ventures. “The Life Sciences / Medical Devices space has been an intrinsic value-generating segment of ePlanet’s global portfolio, and we intend to expand investment in this area going forward.”