World Biomaterials Congress

Aortech International PLC
11 May 2000




                  AORTECH  INTERNATIONAL  PLC
                               
      Results of New Heart Valve Project to be presented
            at World Biomaterials Congress, Hawaii
                               
AorTech  International  plc,  ('AorTech')  the  Scottish-based
manufacturer of cardiovascular devices, announces that  during
the  week  of May 15 - 20th at the World Biomaterials Congress
in  Hawaii, several key presentations will be made on progress
with the development of the new AorTech flexible leaflet heart
valve, and the new polymers used for its construction.

A  total of nine papers and presentations on the exciting  and
ground-breaking  results  from the multi-national  development
team will demonstrate to over 3000 scientists, clinicians  and
industry  leaders the potential of arriving at a new synthetic
valve with the new Elast-Eon material.

AorTech  International  plc and its  Australian  wholly  owned
subsidiary Elastomedic Pty, are now in the advanced stages  of
laboratory   testing  of  a  revolutionary  new  heart   valve
prosthesis.  The totally new bio-stable polyurethane  material
trademarked  Elast-Eon,  used  in  the  construction  of   the
leaflets  for the new heart valve has been the subject  of  12
years  research  and development by CSIRO,  a  major  research
centre  in  Sydney, Australia.  The intellectual property  and
patents of this material is owned by Elastomedic who have been
involved  with  the development and scale-up of the  material.
Dr.  Meijs,  a world-renowned scientist is giving a  key  note
presentation at the opening of the Congress, showcasing  these
new developments.

The  new  valve  has been designed by a UK team involving  the
Universities of Glasgow, Leeds and Liverpool and AorTech,  and
in   its  current  design  is  approaching  final  stages   of
durability and performance testing.  The plans are to  have  a
synthetic valve in clinical trials in patients by the  end  of
2001.  Members of the team from the University of Glasgow will
be  presenting  the  results of the  valve,  showing  how  the
combination  of  design and materials  selection  has  led  to
valves  performing for over 400 million beats in laboratory  -
equivalent  to  10  years in a patient.   The  team  from  the
University  of  Leeds,  will be presenting  the  data  on  the
existing  design and haemodynamic performance  of  the  valve,
while  the team from the University of Liverpool will  discuss
the biocompatability data.  This data indicates that the valve
is  not expected to show any degradation or adverse effects on
the blood or tissues of the patients.

These  materials  combine properties of  biocompatibility  and
resistance  to  degradation  with  excellent  flexibility  and
processing  properties  and the company  expects  them  to  be
valuable in many other forms of medical devices.  AorTech  and
Elastomedic will be demonstrating the advantages and potential
of this new biomaterial at the Congress in Hawaii.
                                                   11 May 2000
Enquiries:

AorTech International plc                    Tel: [phone]
Eddie McDaid, Managing Director
Ian Cameron, Finance Director

AorTech International Inc., USA              Tel: [phone]
Bruno Lowinger, Vice President

College Hill                                 Tel: [phone]
Michael Padley / Nicholas Nelson
                               
      For further information, visit AorTech's website at
                        www.aortech.com
                               
 Copies of this statement will be available for a period of 14
 days from the Company's registered office: Phoenix Crescent,
    Strathclyde Business Park, Bellshill, Scotland ML4 3NU.