A team of scientists has created a medical treatment for heart failure. They hope that this solution will fix one of the valves in the heart without the need for surgery. CroiValve is a MedTech start-up that focuses on providing effective treatment for tricuspid regurgitation or tricuspid valve disease.

Heart failure triggers the tricuspid valve to not function correctly by allowing the right ventricle to dilate. Tricuspid regurgitation affects elderly or sick patients, so their fragile body would be too feeble for corrective surgery. This limits their treatment options, hence resulting in 3 out of 5 deaths just within a time span of 3 years. In order to restore the heart’s function and to prevent regurgitation, the concept of the device is to seal the gap between the native valve leaflets after being delivered through the heart’s blood vessels.  This way the blood will not flow in the wrong direction with each heartbeat.

Created by Dr. Martin Quinn, a consultant cardiologist in St. Vincent’s University Hospital and CMO of CroiValve, the treatment is said to revolutionise the way how patients with severe tricuspid incompetences by having the medical device be implanted easily and safely without the use general anaesthesia.

With the help of Halo Business Angel Network (HBAN) MedTech and Irrus Syndicates among others, in 2019 the company CroiValve has managed to raise approximately €3.2 million to help support its continuous development in innovative technology. The funding was well received due to the market for heart valve disease treatment growing. CroiValve co-founder and CEO Dr. Lucy O’Keeffe reassuringly commented that:

“The past decade has witnessed a revolution in the treatment on heart valve disease.”

She further mentions the opportunity that medical organisations have as more than 500,000 new cases and challenges with tricuspid valve, which are present in both the US and EU respectively.

With an expected high-level of impact, it is predicted that CroiValve will influence their:

♦ Patients– as it will improve and extend quality of life.

♦ Physicians– as they apply a safer option than the conventional techniques.

♦ Healthcare systems– as the number of hospitalisations will be reduced

♦ Payers– as they would have low peri- or post-operative costs

To acknowledge this ongoing hard work, EIT Health has proudly volunteered to further support the company by creating a platform and help transform the lives of CroiValve’s patients. EIT Health has already managed to bring several of their partners onboard in the hopes of encouraging more companies like CroiValve to be innovative in the medical field.

References:

1. Update on the Current Landscape of Transcatheter Options for Tricuspid Regurgitation Treatment, May 2019, NCBI
2. CroiValve is at the heart of the future of meditech, April 2019, SiliconRepublic
3. CroíValve raises €3.2M in oversubscribed funding round, March 2019, Hban
4. CoriValve, EitHealth