Tepha was incorporated in 1998 following a successful collaboration between our sister company, Metabolix, Inc. (Cambridge, MA) & Children’s Hospital, Boston in project involving cardiovascular tissue engineering. Surgeons at Children’s Hospital had been attempting to develop a tissue engineered heart valve that could grow with the patient. Such a product would represent a quantum leap in heart valve surgery for the pediatric population, eliminating the need to replace the valve after a few yrs. Using the Company’s proprietary technology, Tepha was able to successfully produce a biomaterial scaffold suitable for tissue engineered valves. The results of subsequent experiments were astounding. It was found that newly implanted valves grew with their recipients, & its scaffolds completely remodeled into new heart valve tissue that resembled the native tissues within 6 to 8 weeks.
