Preclinical data for Neovasc Inc.'s Tiara™ transcatheter mitral valve program to be presented at EuroPCR 2012

--Presentations will Highlight Promising Results from Animal Studies--

TSX Venture Exchange: NVC

VANCOUVER, May 14, 2012 /CNW/ - Neovasc Inc. (TSXV: NVC), a developer of novel technologies to treat vascular disease, today announced that its Tiara^TM technology under development for the transcatheter treatment of mitral valve disease will be featured in three scientific sessions at EuroPCR 2012, the annual meeting of the European Association for Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions. In these sessions Dr. Shmuel Banai will present data and several cases showing the successful implantation of the Tiara device in acute animal models.

Neovasc CEO Alexei Marko commented, "We are making excellent progress in the development of our Tiara technology for the transcatheter treatment of mitral valve disease, and we are pleased to have the opportunity to share our initial results in animals with leading interventional cardiologists at EuroPCR.  With our strong background in vascular device and tissue heart valve development and manufacture, we believe we are well positioned to develop effective new therapies for this challenging condition. While the Tiara program is early stage, development work to date has yielded promising results, and we hope to achieve the first implantations in humans in 2013."

The Tiara program is a novel solution to treat mitral valve regurgitation (MR), a serious and poorly served condition that requires development of highly specialized devices to address the complex mitral anatomy. The Tiara device is in preclinical development to provide a minimally invasive transcatheter replacement procedure for the millions of patients who experience MR.  Mitral regurgitation is often severe and can lead to heart failure and death, but conventional surgical treatments are only appropriate for a small percentage of patients. Approximately four million patients in the US alone are estimated to have MR.

Neovasc's Tiara device will be featured in presentations at the following EuroPCR 2012 sessions:

• Emerging technologies for transcatheter mitral valve therapies, May 16, 13:40-16:20pm,
  Room 252AB
• Best of Innovations in Cardiovascular Interventions Technoparade, May 17, 15:00-16:20pm,
  Room 351
• Novel approaches to percutaneous treatment of mitral regurgitation, May 18, 11:30am-12:50pm,
  Room 341.

Dr. Shmuel Banai, Medical Director of Neovasc, is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Cardiology at the Tel Aviv University Sackler School of Medicine and a Director of Interventional Cardiology at the Division of Cardiology at the Tel Aviv Medical Center.

About EuroPCR
EuroPCR is the official congress of the European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions (EAPCI) and is a leading international meeting on the percutaneous treatment of cardiovascular disease, attracting over 12,000 participants. EuroPCR 2012 is being held in Paris, France May 15-18, 2012. For more information, visit www.europcr.com.

About Neovasc Inc.
Neovasc Inc. is a specialty medical device company that develops, manufactures and markets products for the rapidly growing cardiovascular marketplace. Its products include the Neovasc Reducer™ for the treatment of refractory angina, the Tiara™ technology in development for the transcatheter treatment of mitral valve disease and a line of advanced biological tissue products that are used as key components in a variety of third-party medical products, such as vascular surgical patches and transcatheter heart valves. For more information, visit: www.neovasc.com.

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Corporate contact:      
Neovasc Inc.
Chris Clark
604 248-4138

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