Trial demonstrates long life tissue heart valves

Allied Healthcare Group (ASX:AHZ) has announced positive results from a preclinical trial of the use of its ADAPT tissue engineering technology in heart valves.

The results of a 24-week study of heart valve tissue treated with ADAPT suggest that tissue-based heart valves could become a more attractive proposition for cardiologists.

Tissue treated with the ADAPT anti-calcification engineering process during the trial showed significantly reduced calcification.

The effect was magnified when the ADAPT process was combined with a terminal sterilisation method developed by Allied Healthcare subsidiary Celxel.

Because calcification shortens the lifespan of implanted material, tissue heart valves often have a lifespan of only around 10 years.

Cardiologists accordingly often choose to use mechanical heart valves in valve replacement surgery, as they typically last twice as long. But this requires patients to undergo lifelong anticoagulant therapy.

Allied Healthcare Group was created from the merger of Allied Medical and bioMD earlier this year.

Celxel, which was formerly part of Allied Medical, is also evaluating the use of the ADAPT process in more surgical applications. These include pelvic floor reconstruction, hernia or cardiovascular repair, orthopaedics and as a scaffold to support the growing of stem cells.

The subsidiary recently appointed 30-year health sector veteran Bob Atwill as its new CEO.

Allied Healthcare Group (ASX:AHZ) shares rose 17.07% during Monday's trading, in the stock's biggest one-day gain since early October.