CoraMetix looks to transform a $20b global market with its 3D printed heart valve

A WA medical technology startup is aiming to have its 3D printed heart valves implanted in patients within two to three years as it looks to transform a global market poised to reach $US13.4 billion ($20b) by 2030. Led by Elena Juan Pardo and Abdul Ihdayhid, CoraMetix is developing 3D printed heart valves of the same name aimed at extending the lives of people suffering from aortic stenosis. One in eight Australians over the age of 65 suffers from the medical condition in which the aortic valve narrows and restricts blood flow, leading to increased angina and breathlessness. Dr Ihdayhid, a cardiologist, said if left untreated, severe aortic stenosis could lead to heart failure, with up to 50 per cent of patients not surviving beyond two to three years. He said the majority of valve replacements at present relied on biological valves derived from animal tissue from a pig or a cow, but these have a limited lifespan and begin to fail within five years. “Our mission statement is to try and address this major problem of durability and to develop a next generation heart valve that can last the patient’s lifetime,” Dr Ihdayhid said. “Repeat valve procedures are not without significant risks and sometimes people are inoperable.” A pre-clinical animal study is slated for early next year in what the pair describes will be a “huge milestone”. “There are two things that we want to know; there’s the performance and that it doesn’t get rejected by the body,” Dr Ihdayhid said. “Rejection can manifest in different ways . . . blood clots can form on them.” Biomedical engineer Dr Juan Pardo added the early-stage company was currently generating “solid” data to prove to regulatory agencies its 3D heart valves were safe to use before conducting human trials. The biopolymer-based 3D printed valves are being developed out of Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research with the University of WA. “It further positions Perth and Western Australia as a medical technology manufacturing hub and that is something that we really want to try and grow,” Dr Ihdayhid said. With the transcatheter aortic valve replacement global market anticipated to grow from $US4.4b in 2021 to about $US13.4 billion by 2030, Dr Ihdayhid reckons the company is a first mover. “(While) there are other people around the world who are trying to (create) polymeric valves using synthetic materials, we believe that we are the first in the world to take a design that mimics the native heart valve,” he said. CoraMetix recently secured $500,000 in funding from Perth-based venture capital provider FundWA, which is headed up by Glenn Butcher. The new funding values CoraMetix at $2.25m. “CoraMetix is a prime example of the fantastic tech innovation that exists in WA with enormous potential to scale to a global level with the right partners,” Mr Butcher said. “We know how much untapped potential exists in WA that is being overlooked.”

CoraMetix looks to transform a $20b global market with its 3D printed heart valve

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