On 6th June 2007 at the ILSI BIO MED Conference in T.A organized by the Israel Life Science Industry, Valtech Cardio Ltd. was selected out of 100 other promising companies as the recipient of the RAD BIO MED Entrepreneurs Prize for "Outstanding Project 2007". Accepting the award on behalf of the company was its founder & CEO, Amir Gross.

Valtech Cardio Ltd is developing Percutaneous Annuloplasty ring valve repair for the treatment of Mitral Valve Regurgitation.

Using a simple catheterization process for implementing the device which treats Mitral Valve Regurgitation, Valtech's treatment will be an alternative to the invasive open heart procedures that are currently in use today.

Mitral regurgitation (mitral valve regurgitation, mitral incompetence, mitral insufficiency) is leakage of blood backward through the mitral valve, each time the left ventricle contracts. As the left ventricle pumps blood into the aorta, some blood leaks backward into the left atrium, increasing blood volume and pressure there.

The increased blood pressure in the left atrium increases blood pressure in the veins leading from the lungs to the heart (pulmonary veins) and, causes the left atrium to enlarge to accommodate the extra blood, leaking back from the ventricle. An extremely enlarged atrium often beats rapidly in an irregular pattern (a disorder called atrial fibrillation), which reduces the heart's pumping efficiency because the fibrillating atrium is quivering rather than pumping. Consequently, blood does not flow through the atrium normally, and blood clots may form inside the chamber. If a clot breaks loose (becoming an embolus), it is pumped out of the heart and may block an artery, possibly causing a stroke or other damage.

Severe regurgitation can result in heart failure, in which increased pressure in the atrium causes fluid accumulation (congestion) in the lungs, or in which reduced forward flow of blood from the ventricle to the body deprives organs from the proper amount of blood. The left ventricle may gradually dilate and weaken, further worsening heart failure.

The highly invasive nature of valve surgery, high product costs, and the fact that, in many cases, heart valve disease is not immediately life threatening are all factors that have contributed to the emergence, in recent time of percuteaneous valve repair technologies.

It is expected, that transcatheter technologies will experience the fastest growth as they begin their emergance as the wave of the future.