Venus Medtech Taps into Surgical Heart Valve Market by Cooperating with Haoyue Group to Develop the Business of High-end Biomaterial Medical Devices

HANGZHOU, China, Sept. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The leading transcatheter heart valve medical device player in China - Venus Medtech (Hangzhou) Inc. ("Venus Medtech" or the "Company", together with its subsidiaries, the "Group", stock code: 2500) and Jilin Changchun Haoyue Halal Meat Co., Ltd ("Haoyue Group"), are pleased to announce the establishment of a joint venture company, Venus Haoyue Medtech Limited ("Venus Haoyue Medtech"). Venus Medtech and Venus Haoyue Medtech will jointly provide total treatment solutions for heart valve diseases from the source of biomaterials. It will become a domestic enterprise with both surgical valves and transcatheter valves, which will comprehensively improve the level of heart valve diseases treatment in China.

Venus Haoyue Medtech will be engaged in the design, research and development, manufacturing, sales, and technical services of high-end cardiovascular disease implant devices and surgical soft tissue repair materials. The main products are artificial biological heart valves for surgical implantation and other biological patches. Venus Haoyue Medtech develops surgical valve products including aortic, pulmonary, mitral and tricuspid valves.

Professor Xi Tingfei, the researcher and doctoral tutor of China National Institutes for Food and Drug Control and Peking University, Professor Wang Yunbing, the director of National Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials (NERCB), and Professor Meng Xu, the director of the Heart Transplantation and Valve Surgery Center of Beijing Anzhen Hospital, Capital Medical University and the chief expert of the Heart Valve Center of Shanghai Chest Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University attended the signing ceremony and press conference.

Heart valve disease is one of the most common heart diseases in China, of which rheumatic heart valve disease is the main kind of heart valve disease. However, with the improvement of people's living conditions, the incidence of non-rheumatic valve disease is relatively increased. China is in a transition period from rheumatic valve disease to degenerative valve disease. According to statistics, the prevalence rate of heart valve diseases among people over 75 years old in Western countries is as high as 13.3%, and there are more than 4 million patients, who is over 60 years old, with valve diseases in China. The mortality rate of heart valve diseases is comparable to that of some cancers. Surgical replacement or repair of the valve is the main and effective treatment.

Professor Xi Tingfei provided an introduction on the current status and development trend of the animal-derived biomaterials in China in his speech. At present, imported biological valves account for 85% of the market in China, hence there is an urgent need for biological valve products developed and produced in China to ensure timely and targeted clinical treatment. Medical devices, especially high-end medical devices, are still among the products that are highly dependent on importation in China. Meanwhile, certain domestic enterprises have solved the technical problems in research, development, and production, but failed to materialize the technological achievements due to lack of supply of biomaterials.

With the establishment of Venus Haoyue Medtech, Haoyue Group will exclusively provide its high-quality bovine pericardial valves to Venus Medtech and Venus Haoyue Medtech, thereby establishing a stable and high-standard raw material supply system. In addition to traditional surgical valves, Venus Haoyue Medtech will also develop sutureless aortic valve products to provide doctors and patients with a more comprehensive range of treatment options.

Professor Meng Xu said "Compared with traditional surgical valve replacement, the sutureless biological valve can reduce the extracorporeal circulation time and blocking time due to the avoidance of surgical operations such as suturing and knotting in limited space near the aortic valve, thereby lowering the incidence of postoperative complications to vital organs such as heart, brain, liver and kidney and avoiding potential damage to the aortic root from surgical operations such as suturing and knotting." The products for transcatheter mitral valve replacement and transcatheter tricuspid valve replacement independently developed by Venus Medtech will also use the high-quality bovine pericardial valves provided by Haoyue Group for processing and production.

The "Preloaded Dry Valve" technology jointly developed by a team from NERCB led by Professor Wang Yunbing and Venus Medtech has overcome the storage limitations of traditional biological valve materials and was recognized as a national key project of research and development under the 13th Five-Year Plan. In 2016, Venus Medical pioneered to apply "dry valve" technology in transcatheter aortic heart valve replacement products, which eliminated the effect of traditional glutaraldehyde solution on the valve and improved the anti-calcification properties of the valve biomaterial, thereby significantly improving the valve durability, increasing the useful life of implanted valve products and benefiting the patients.

Venus Medtech will also cooperate with NERCB to inject the most advanced "engineered dry valve" technology into Venus Haoyue Medtech, in order to upgrade all newly developed surgical valves and biological patch products and optimize product research development to create more clinical benefits. The application of "engineered dry valve" technology in surgical valves will raise the standard of research and development of valve products and provide new treatment options. Professor Meng Xu also expressed his high expectation and recognition of the "dry valve" technology and emphasized the importance of these breakthrough technologies in the field of heart valve treatment.

Mr. Eric Zi, Co-Founder and General Manager of Venus Medtech, said "We are very glad to cooperate with Haoyue Group to develop a high-end medical device company. Relying on the cooperation with Haoyue Group, Venus Haoyue Medtech will greatly enhance the medical technology level of domestic bovine products fundamentally solve the hidden dangers of import dependence on heart valve products. Venus Haoyue Medtech combined the supply of high-quality raw materials and Venus Medteh's strong research and development capabilities, to produce technologically advanced surgical valve products, and improve the product pipeline as well as meet the huge medical demand in the market. The cooperation will further promote the business development of Venus Medtech and help the Group to achieve its mission of becoming a global leader in the development and commercialization of minimally invasive solutions for cardiovascular diseases. "

Mr. Cong Lianbiao, President of Haoyue Group, said "We are very pleased to cooperate with Venus Medtech, the outstanding transcatheter heart valve medical device company in China, and the cooperation will provide us with more opportunities. As a leading supplier of bovine products in China, Haoyue Group has the responsibility to deepen the development of bovine products, especially the production and application of medical bovine products, in order to reduce the reliance on imported products and raw materials and strengthen the development foundation with advance and innovative technologies. To this end, Venus Haoyue Medtech will actively develop heart valve products to bring hope to the patients and work for the well-being of the general public."

About Venus Medtech (Hangzhou) Inc.

Venus Medtech is the leading transcatheter heart valve medical device player in China in terms of implantation volume in 2018. The Company focuses on the design, development and commercialization of transcatheter heart valve products. According to Frost & Sullivan, the Company had a 79.3% market share in China by implantation volume of TAVR products in 2018. The Company's self-developed product, VenusA-Valve, is the first TAVR product approved by the NMPA and commercialized in China. As the pioneer in the transcatheter heart valve industry in China, the Company enjoys first mover advantages. The Company believes that its first mover advantages, together with its comprehensive product pipeline covering all four heart valves, robust intellectual property portfolio with 193 issued patents and 196 patent applications as of November 18, 2019, and visionary management team, will serve as high entry barriers and differentiate the Company from its peers.

About Haoyue Group

Haoyue Group takes beef cattle slaughter and deep processing as its main business. It is is one of the first national key leading enterprises in agricultural industrialization. Haoyue Group has established six production bases around major beef cattle belts in China, strictly implementing quality control throughout the process, and is known for supplying high-quality beef products.

SOURCE Venus Medtech (Hangzhou) Inc.