Biomaterials and medical device company Aortech International on Tuesday signed a development agreement with Vascular Flow Technologies (VFT) for the development of a synthetic heart valve.
The project undertaken by the duo will see detailed computational modelling and analysis of AIM traded firm AorTech's heart valve before design optimisation, manufacturing and testing commences with the objective of preparing data to justify 'in man' testing of the technology.

VFT is a medical device development and testing company with medical imaging and computational fluid dynamic capabilities.

Craig Dunlop, general manager and director of VFT, said: "We are very excited to be a key partner in the development of the next generation of prosthetic heart valves which should represent not only a step change in performance, but dramatically reduce the cost to manufacture these life enhancing devices."

Meanwhile, Aortech's polymers are currently in use cardiology and urological applications, including pacing leads, cardiac cannulae, stents and neuro stimulation devices.

Devices manufactured from these polymers have received approvals from the US food and drug administration, the Australian therapeutic goods administration and the Japanese ministry of health.

Bill Brown, chairman of AorTech, said: "In partnering with the team at VFT, AorTech now has access to Europe's leading experts in the combined field of medical imaging, guided finite element analysis and computational fluid dynamics. Combining the design history with this ground breaking imaging analysis should much improve the quality of the product design, reliability and performance."

As of 1149 BST, Aortech International's shares were up 9.22% at 45.00p.

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