Investing in Treatments for Heart Disease

Filed Under Medical Equipment & Supplies

Heart disease is, unfortunately, a growth industry, Three percent of baby boomers currently have heart disease and that number is expected to grow 10-15 percent within that demographic over the next 10 years. That’s more than 500,000 new cases annually for what remains the number one killer in the US of both men and women. Healthcare costs associated with heart disease already exceed $23 billion annually.

MIV Therapeutics Inc. (Symbol: MIVT) is an advanced stage, research and development company pursuing the commercialization of the next generation of fully biocompatible coatings for stents and other medical devices with the intent of providing healing solutions for cardiovascular disease and other conditions. In collaboration with the University of British Columbia (UBC), the Company has developed unique coating technologies that utilize Hydroxyapatite (HAp) for application on medical devices and drug delivery systems.

MIVT has a strategic alliance with the University of British Columbia (UBC), where it has licensed from the university worldwide rights to technologies for coating stents and other medical devices with HAp. This coating enhances the biocompatibility of implanted devices since it is a material that is found in the body as the main constituent of bone.

MIVT’s technology is considered to be suitable for broad applications in cardiovascular and non-vascular drug/device combination products. The Company’s goal is to continue on its path of success and diversify its portfolio to capitalize on these potential applications, accessing the $200 billion market of combination drug/device products.

MIVT’s current product portfolio encompasses the following preclinical development projects:

HAp-nano-film coating technology. The Company’s lead product in development is an HAp-coated coronary stent with a nano-film coating. HAp is naturally found in bone and tooth enamel and is rapidly integrated into the human body. As such, it may inhibit a variety of adverse and inflammatory reactions and potentially help reduce restenosis, a recurrence of CAD following angioplasty. It is also believed that HAp-coated cardiovascular stents will not trigger late adverse thrombogenic reactions.

Drug-eluting stents. The Company is expected to enter the drug-eluting stent market by using a thicker coating of HAp loaded with a suitable drug, i.e. anti-inflammatory. The technology has applications in cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular drug/device combination products, including peripheral stents, biodegradable implants, gene therapy, and delivery systems for release of chemotherapeutic agents.

Recently there was a spike in the volume which, I must say, really intrigued me. The price has jumped up from $0.35/share to around $0.55/share. It went down a bit, then it shot up to $0.60/share. Could it be because Ernest C. Schloter, a senior analyst with Investrend affiliate SISM Research and a four star analyst according to StarMine, has reiterated his “Buy/4″ Rating and $2.50 12-month Target Valuation for MIV Therapeutics, Inc. in a Research Note?

Here are some of the comments which I have heard about them:

“The drug-eluting stent market grew from zero to $5.3 billion in three years and has captured 85% of the US stent market. To date, more than nine million DES devices have been inserted. In 2005, about 1.5 million patients were implanted with drug-eluting stents in the US alone…”

“Despite a stock price increase of more than 50% since last Wednesday, in our view, MIVT, at a market cap of only $35 million, is still massively undervalued… MIV Therapeutics is paying SISM Research $2,250 per month over a two-year period solely to ensure independent coverage.”

Hmm pretty interesting, don’t you think? I’m always fond of biotech stocks, regardless of whether they’re traded at a ridiculously low price or amazingly high price. This one happens to be traded a ridiculously low price and even a lot of people think of this one is undervalued. Well…We’ll see what’s going to happen with this one in the next 3-6 months.

Source: mivtherapeutics.com

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