Structural heart company Anteris Technologies Ltd (ASX: AVR) has successfully completed a Proof of Concept (POC) animal study testing the viability of ADAPT treated conduits in the carotid artery.
The conduits treated with the ADAPT process showed no evidence of calcification, as indicated by histopathology.
CEO, Wayne Paterson, said that, moreover, there were no visible signs of inflammation, specifically in the intimal or medial layers of the conduits. The grafts also showed the presence of a partial neo-intimal layer, likely indicating surface remodelling of the vessels.
Previous attempts by investigators to use animal vessels in this setting failed due to heavy calcification deposits occurring whereas none were shown here with the ADAPT treated conduits.
This marks a major step forward for ADAPT treated prosthetic conduits for use in CABG surgeries,” Mr Paterson said.
“The global CABG market was estimated at approximately $US500 million for 2021 with a 5.3% CAGR out to 2026 and where there are very few viable alternatives (other than harvesting a patient’s own saphenous vein) for the by-pass graft.
“Not only does this further validate ADAPT’s superior anti-calcification properties in highly problematic areas of surgery, it pushes Anteris closer to a viable alternative for patients of coronary by-pass (CABG) surgery.”
Professor Leon Neethling, Anteris’ Vice President, Cardiovascular Technologies, and the principal investigator, said the company is extremely encouraged by these results in a historically difficult setting prone to calcification, associated inflammatory responses and intimal hyperplasia which results in high failure rates.
The study used bovine carotid and mesenteric arteries as the conduits to test the viability of Adapt treated conduits in the carotid artery (as a proxy for CABG) in sheep. These conduits ranged from 2.5mm to 3.8mm in diameter and one six to seven cm length was implanted per animal.
Based on these results, Anteris plans to start a larger animal study in Australia during 2021 implanting the conduit into the CABG position.