NVCN: Receives Expected Delisting Determination

VANCOUVER, July 9, 2018 /CNW/ - Neovasc Inc. ("Neovasc" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: NVCN) (TSX: NVCN), a leader in the development of minimally invasive transcatheter mitral valve replacement technologies, today announced that it will request a hearing before the Nasdaq Hearings Panel (the "Panel") as the next step in the process to seeking an additional 180-day extension for compliance with the US$1 minimum bid price requirement.  On July 6, 2018, the Company received the expected notice from the Listing Qualifications Staff (the "Staff") of The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC ("Nasdaq") indicating that the Staff has determined to delist the Company's common shares from Nasdaq Capital Market unless the Company requests a hearing before the Panel by July 13, 2018, which the Company will do.

As previously announced, the Company has already received shareholder approval to execute a reverse stock split, common share consolidation, to enable the Company to regain compliance with the minimum bid price requirement.  However, the Company is seeking an additional 180-day extension so that the Board and management can effect the reverse stock split at a time, during that extension, if granted, that is in the best interest of the Company and its stakeholders.

On January 2, 2018, the Staff notified the Company that it did not comply with the US$1.00 minimum bid price requirement set forth in Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(a)(2). The Company was provided an initial compliance period of 180 days, or until July 2, 2018, to regain compliance with Listing Rule 5550(a)(2). On July 6, 2018, the Company received the expected notice from the Staff indicating that the Staff has determined to delist the Company's common shares from the Nasdaq Capital Market.

As previously disclosed, the Company will request a hearing before the Panel, at which it will request an additional 180-day extension and present its plan for regaining compliance with the minimum bid price requirement. This request will ordinarily automatically stay any delisting or suspension action pending the issuance of a final decision by the Panel; however, the Nasdaq has broad discretionary public interest authority that it can exercise to apply additional or more stringent criteria for the continued listing of the Company's common shares, or suspend or delist securities. As noted above, the Company sought and received approval at its Annual General and Special Meeting of Shareholders to complete, at the Board of Directors' discretion, a reverse stock split for purposes of regaining compliance with the minimum bid price requirement. The Company believes that having the advance approval of its shareholders to effect a reverse stock split provides strong support for its request for an additional 180-day extension and therefore increases the likelihood that the Panel will grant the requested extension; however, there can be no assurance that the Company's appeal before the Panel will be successful.

The Company is also listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (the "TSX") and the Company's noncompliance with the Nasdaq minimum bid price requirement does not affect the Company's compliance status with the TSX.

Neovasc 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, which is not currently commercially available in the United States and has been commercially available in Europe since 2015, and the Tiara™, for the transcatheter treatment of mitral valve disease, which is currently under clinical investigation in the United States, Canada and Europe. For more information, visit: www.neovasc.com.