China Venus Medtech (Hangzhou) Inc. announced a partnership agreement for strategic investment and authorization with Keystone Heart.

This agreement will grant Venus Medtech the right to exclusively develop, manufacture and sell the 3rd generation TriGUARD 3™ device and the next generation of cerebral embolic protection device in China and other major Asian markets.

In March, 2017, Venus Medtech announced a partnership agreement to promote Venus Medtech's TAVR system, VenusA-Valve, in combination with Keystone Heart's 1st generation TriGuard™ Cerebral Embolic Protection Device in China and other major Asian markets.

This new agreement shows that Venus Medtech further deepens its technical layout in the market of cerebral embolic protection and strengthens the strategic cooperation with Keystone Heart.

In February 2017, the association of neuroscience research (NeuroARC) officially issued guidelines to establish and provide standardized neurological endpoints for vascular clinical trials.

The guide is published in the Journal of the American Cardiology and the European Heart Journal, and the guide also points out that more and more evidence shows "recessive" brain damage in patients receiving transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) and other cardiovascular surgery. This issue has been particularly prominent over the past 5 years.

Eric Zi, co-founder and CEO of Venus Medtech said, "Venus Medtech is not solely focused on transcatheter valve products. We care about the entire TAVR procedure, the associated complications and overall patient's quality of life. The partnership with Keystone heart will make Venus Medtech the only provider for the holistic treatment encompassing "cerebral embolic protection - balloon - valve" in the global TAVR field. The further cooperation confirms the determination to provide a total solution, and again expresses confidence in the application of innovative technologies."

Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) is a minimally invasive procedure conducted to repair a diseased aortic valve. With the increasing incidence of valvular degenerative lesions in the elderly, aortic valve calcification stenosis has become a common valvular heart disease in the elderly group.

This group is severely symptomatic, suffers from poor recovery after surgery and presents a high mortality rate. For patients with high/intermediate -risk or with surgical contraindications, TAVR can be used as an effective treatment, with clear advantages of minimal trauma and quick recovery.

Avoiding the risk of traditional open-chest surgery and cardiopulmonary bypass, TAVR is able to bring hope of rebirth to this group of patients.

China is the emerging market for TAVR procedure. VenusA-Valve independently researched and developed by Venus Medtech, obtained CFDA's registration certificate in April 2017.

It achieved the milestone as the first ever transcatheter aortic valve implant approved for commercial use in China. Experts estimate that more than 10,000 TAVR surgeries will be performed by 2020. And that the overall market will grow at a rate of 30% to 50% per year.