Admedus (ASX:AHZ) has expanded its exclusive distribution partnership with CORONEO to sell its Extra-Aortic Annuloplasty Ring and related products in Australia and New Zealand.
Admedus said it anticipates gaining marketing approval for the aortic implant in the second half of 2016.
“We are pleased to build on our existing partnership with CORONEO to distribute their leading aortic ring in Australia and New Zealand. This will be an extension to the current arrangement we have for the UK and Germany and fits well within our existing sales team. There is a natural synergy between the Extra-Aortic Ring and our product CardioCel, and we view this as a beneficial relationship in the lead up to CardioCel being approved in the Australian market,” said Admedus CEO Mr Lee Rodne.
The CORONEO Extra-Aortic Ring is the first specially-designed aortic annuloplasty ring on the market used to surgically repair the Aortic valve and complements the use of CardioCel in heart valve repairs as Admedus works to expand its presence in the heart valve repair market.
The company said CardioCel was recently featured in a presentation at the Heart Valve Society meeting in New York, which highlighted that CardioCel demonstrated the closest profile to native aortic valves, rendering it best suited for aortic valve reconstructions.
“We will continue to look to build revenue across the business, through our existing product portfolio’s and through partnerships across our own technologies and complementary technologies from other companies,” said Mr Rodne.
In October 2015, Admedus also initiated a post-market clinical study using CardioCel to reconstruct aortic valves in 80 patients across four leading heart centres in the US and Europe. The study is designed to illustrate the utility and benefits of CardioCel in aortic valve reconstruction over valve replacements. Patients in the clinical study will be reviewed 6, 12 and 24 months post-surgery to evaluate safety data and primary and secondary endpoints.
CardioCel is marketed in the USA, Europe, Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia and has been used in over 145 centres globally and has been implanted in over 4000 patients.