VANCOUVER /PRNewswire/ - Neovasc Inc. ("Neovasc" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: NVCN) (TSX: NVCN), a leader in the development of minimally invasive transcatheter mitral valve replacement technologies, announced today that it has entered into a collaboration and licensing agreement relating to certain know-how developed by Penn Medicine and the Gorman Cardiovascular Research Group at the University of Pennsylvania (together, "Penn"). This Agreement resolves certain potential claims against the Company that were described in the Company's Annual Report on Form 20-F and management's discussion and analysis for Q1. This agreement does not impact either Penn or Neovasc's patent rights.
Tiara™ ("Tiara") is Neovasc's minimally invasive transcatheter device for patients who experience severe mitral regurgitation ("MR"). There are millions of patients worldwide who suffer from severe MR, a significant percentage of whom are not good candidates for conventional surgical repair or replacement. Tiara is implanted in the heart using a minimally invasive, transapical transcatheter approach without the need for open-heart surgery or use of a cardiac bypass machine.
This collaboration and licensing agreement contemplates a period of collaboration over the next four years with fees being paid by Neovasc to Penn. Following the first commercial sale of the Tiara, Neovasc will pay a stepped royalty on Tiara revenues. These royalty obligations continue after the four-year collaboration period has ended. Also contained in the collaboration and licensing agreement are buy-out clauses that allow Neovasc, or an acquirer of Neovasc or the Tiara assets, to buy-out these royalty obligations. For further details, please see the Material Change Report filed by the Company on SEDAR and furnished to the SEC on EDGAR under Form 6-K.
"This agreement helps to safeguard our efforts to further develop and commercialize the Tiara. We are pleased to have resolved this matter in a manner that allows Neovasc to advance the Tiara program development in the near term, while providing an option to either Neovasc or an acquirer of Neovasc to buy-out these future royalty obligations," commented Fred Colen, Neovasc's Chief Executive Officer.
This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities laws regarding the Company's plans and expectations concerning any potential claims against the Company, the eventual commercialization of the Tiara, the worldwide incidence of Mitral valve dysfunction and candidacy for the Tiara, the fees and royalties to be paid to Penn or any buyout of such royalty obligations, any acquisition of the Company or the Tiara and the growing cardiovascular marketplace. Words and phrases such as "potential", "continue", "believe", "may", "could", "continue", "expect", "option", "upon" and "will", and similar words or expressions, are intended to identify these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on estimates and assumptions made by the Company in light of its experience and its perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors that the Company believes are appropriate in the circumstances. Many factors and assumptions could cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, risks relating to claims by third parties alleging infringement of their intellectual property rights; risks relating to lawsuits that the Company is subject to, which could divert the Company's resources and result in the payment of significant damages and other remedies; the Company's ability to establish, maintain and defend intellectual property rights in the Company's products; the substantial doubt about the Company's ability to continue as a going concern; risks relating to the warrants (the "Warrants") and senior secured convertible notes (the "Notes") issued pursuant to the November 2017 underwritten public offering and concurrent private placement (together, the "2017 Financings"), resulting in significant dilution to the Company's shareholders; risks relating to the Company's need for significant additional future capital and the Company's ability to raise additional funding; risks relating to cashless exercise and adjustment provisions in the Warrants and Notes issued pursuant to the 2017 Financings, which could make it more difficult and expensive for the Company to raise additional capital in the future and result in further dilution to investors; risks relating to the sale of a significant number of common shares of the Company; risks relating to the exercise of Warrants or conversion of Notes issued pursuant to the 2017 Financings, which may encourage short sales by third parties; risks relating to the possibility that the Company's common shares may be delisted from the Nasdaq Capital Market or the Toronto Stock Exchange, which could affect their market price and liquidity; risks relating to the Company's common share price being volatile; risks relating to the influence of significant shareholders of the Company over the Company's business operations and share price; risks relating to the Company's significant indebtedness, and its effect on the Company's financial condition; risks relating to results from clinical trials of the Company's products, which may be unfavorable or perceived as unfavorable; the Company's history of losses and significant accumulated deficit; risks associated with product liability claims, insurance and recalls; risks relating to use of the Company's products in unapproved circumstances, which could expose the Company to liabilities; risks relating to competition in the medical device industry, including the risk that one or more of the Company's competitors may develop more effective or more affordable products; risks relating to the Company's ability to achieve or maintain expected levels of market acceptance for the Company's products, as well as the Company's ability to successfully build its in-house sales capabilities or secure third-party marketing or distribution partners; the Company's ability to convince public payors and hospitals to include the Company's products on their approved products lists; risks relating to new legislation, new regulatory requirements and the efforts of governmental and third-party payors to contain or reduce the costs of healthcare; risks relating to increased regulation, enforcement and inspections of participants in the medical device industry, including frequent government investigations into marketing and other business practices; risks associated with the extensive regulation of the Company's products and trials by governmental authorities, as well as the cost and time delays associated therewith; risks associated with post-market regulation of the Company's products; health and safety risks associated with the Company's products and industry; risks associated with the Company's manufacturing operations, including the regulation of the Company's manufacturing processes by governmental authorities and the availability of two critical components of the Reducer; risk of animal disease associated with the use of the Company's products; risks relating to the manufacturing capacity of third-party manufacturers for the Company's products, including risks of supply interruptions impacting the Company's ability to manufacture its own products; risks relating to the Company's dependence on limited products for substantially all of the Company's current revenues; risks relating to the Company's exposure to adverse movements in foreign currency exchange rates; risks relating to the possibility that the Company could lose its foreign private issuer status under U.S. federal securities laws; risks relating to breaches of anti-bribery laws by the Company's employees or agents; risks associated with future changes in financial accounting standards and new accounting pronouncements; risks relating to the Company's dependence upon key personnel to achieve its business objectives; the Company's ability to maintain strong relationships with physicians; risks relating to the sufficiency of the Company's management systems and resources in periods of significant growth; risks associated with consolidation in the health care industry, including the downward pressure on product pricing and the growing need to be selected by larger customers in order to make sales to their members or participants; risks relating to the Company's ability to successfully identify and complete corporate transactions on favorable terms or achieve anticipated synergies relating to any acquisitions or alliances; risks relating to the Company's ability to successfully enter into fundamental transactions as defined in the Series C warrants issued pursuant to the 2017 Financings; anti-takeover provisions in the Company's constating documents which could discourage a third party from making a takeover bid beneficial to the Company's shareholders; and risks relating to conflicts of interests among the Company's officers and directors as a result of their involvement with other issuers. These risk factors and others relating to the Company are discussed in greater detail in the "Risk Factors" section of the Company's Annual Report on Form 20-F and in Management's Discussion and Analysis for the quarter ended March 31, 2018 (copies of which may be obtained at www.sedar.com or www.sec.gov). The Company has no intention and undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements beyond required periodic filings with securities regulators, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
