News

Posted On: 07/08/2006

MIV Therapeutics Effort to Create Safer, Better Cardiovascular Stents; Rising Dangers with the Use of Drug-Coated Stents

Mivtherapeutics.Com

Pharmamanufacturing.com

http://www.mivtherapeutics.com/investor_relations/

MIV Therapeutics (OTCBB:MIVT) (FWB:MIV), a leading developer of next-generation biocompatible coatings and advanced drug delivery systems for cardiovascular stents and other implantable medical devices, has cited a growing body of both basic scientific evidence -- as well as real-world treatment practices at leading cardiac care institutions -- that further validate the Company's core technology and business strategy to make a safer generation of coronary stents based on its proprietary bio-friendly stent coatings.

"Rising concern over potentially deadly blood clots has led some cardiac centers to cut back on use of drug-coated stents," according to the Wall Street Journal article. "The moves come as a growing number of studies question the effectiveness and safety of the stents, which are coated with drugs to prevent arterial scarring."

Stents are used to prop open coronary arteries that have been narrowed as a result of vascular disease; MIVT has developed and is testing for commercialization a new generation of stents with proprietary coating based on a substance called hydroxyapatite (HAp). HAp has been shown in numerous studies not to trigger the body's most serious adverse reactions associated with either bare-metal or drug-coated generations of stents.

A recent, fully independent study reported by the company about the use of HAp in vascular applications, conducted at the University of Sienna in Sienna, Italy, and published in the prestigious international Journal of Biomedical Materials Research, confirmed HAp technology as a safe and potentially superior alternative to existing products. Notably, the study concluded that HAp caused neither the unwanted inflammation inside arteries, nor the elevated risk of potentially fatal blood clot formation. At the same time, the study concluded that HAp appears to actually promote the desirable growth of healthy epithelial cells that are necessary for long-term stent success.

The evidence presented in that study, reveals the core safety and biocompatibility features of HAp materials in vascular applications. Other articles demonstrating stent-associated dangers, such as blood clots, have appeared in key medical publications as the Journal of the American Medical Association and the Lancet.

"The scientific conclusions definitely suggest that MIVT, with its pioneering HAp-based coatings, is on track to develop products that address and solve the most important concerns about the long-term safety of stents," said Dr. Raoul Bonan, MD, Interventional Cardiologist at Montreal Heart Institute, Associate Professor of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Montreal.

"If we consider that many of the best cardiac care centers are starting to reconsider their use of the current generation of drug-coated stents, we can expect that the marketplace will demand a wholly new solution to the problems long associated with stents," Dr. Bonan added. "MIVT is pioneering the push toward a theoretical gold standard of stents that would both promote healthy epithelial cell growth inside stented arteries, without triggering unwanted smooth muscle proliferation."

"We are glad to see that researchers and cardiac care physicians are alert to these central issues facing the stent industry and their patients," said Alan Lindsay, Chairman and CEO of MIV Therapeutics. "As a result of the positive research surrounding and confirming HAp safety, as well as MIVT's own product development progress, we believe we are at the forefront in this race to create a new generation of safer products for the multi-billion-dollar stent industry."

An abstract of the University of Sienna study can be read by visiting http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/112146392/ABSTRACT

About MIV Therapeutics Inc.

MIV Therapeutics is developing a next-generation line of advanced biocompatible coatings for passive and drug-eluting applications on cardiovascular stents and a broad range of other implantable medical devices.