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Exhibit 99.5

MIV THERAPEUTICS' R&D TEAM MAKES IMPACT ON SCIENCE OF BIOMATERIALS

Thursday February 26, 9:02 am ET

VANCOUVER, Feb. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Chairman of The Board and Chief
Executive Officer of MIV Therapeutics Inc. (MIVT:OTCBB & MIV.BE: Berlin)
announced today that the MIVT R&D team, in collaboration with the UBC team of
scientists, will present three papers at the 7th World Biomaterials Congress
(http://www.tourhosts.com.au/biomaterials/invit.html) in Sydney, Australia, May
17-21, 2004. One of the papers relates directly to the revolutionary MIVT
technology for HAp coated stents, and is titled "Nanoporous Calcium Phosphate
Thin Coatings for Stents" (click here for full text of the extended abstract of
the paper). The second paper is titled "Mesoporous Bioglass Films by Sol- Gel"
(abstract), and the third paper relates to HAp-based composite materials.

Dr. Tom Troczynski, VP of Coatings of MIV Therapeutics Inc, and a Professor of
Ceramics at UBC - Metals and Materials Engineering of the University of British
Columbia, Canada, commented, "All three contributions are expected to make an
impact on the science of biomaterials and bioceramic coatings, the area of
direct interest of MIVT. The near term objective of MIVT is to bring the
technology of calcium phosphate, in particular hydroxyapatite (HAp) coated
stents to market, both in the form of ultra-thin "passive" films, and in the
form of drug-eluting films. The longer term objective of MIVT is to implement
these coating technologies to broader applications, including the rapidly
growing market of implants."

Announcing the publication Mr. Alan Lindsay stated: "The three papers accepted
to this prestigious biomaterials conference constitute only a fraction of the
biomaterials related publication record of the team lead by Dr. Troczynski.
Another important contribution of Dr. Troczynski appeared in the January 2004
issue of "Nature Materials", describing applications of hydroxyapatite cements.
The article presents an overview of high density calcium-phosphate cements which
have a chemical composition similar to hydroxyapatite (HAp) proprietary coatings
used by MIV Therapeutics for coating of cardiovascular stents. "Nature
Materials" is published by the Nature Publishing Group renown for its
prestigious scientific periodical "Nature".

Mr. Lindsay continued: "Dr. Troczynski is leading a team of dedicated UBC
scientists who, in close cooperation with the R&D team at MIV Therapeutics,
developed breakthrough biocompatible coatings for application in cardiovascular
stents and other medical devices. Patented HAp coating technology to which MIVT
has exclusive rights placed our Company firmly at the leading edge of research
for the best coating solution for cardiovascular stents and other medical
devices. Our systematic and focused approach to the accelerated R&D program has
already delivered very promising results which are expected to be further
enhanced with the outcome of trials which are in progress at the present time."

Please click here for full listing of the biomaterials related publications by
the R&D team lead by Dr. Troczynski.

About University of British Columbia

The University of British Columbia (UBC), located in the Pacific Rim gateway of
Vancouver, Canada, ranks in the top 10 of North American universities in
technology licensing and commercialization, and generates more U.S. patent
applications than any other Canadian public institution. The UBCeram Group at
the UBC (http://www.ceramics.mmat.ubc.ca/ and http://www.mmat.ubc.ca/)
specializes in a number of aspects of ceramics research, and focuses on
bioceramics for coatings and bulk applications. The group, lead by Prof.
Troczynski, includes 6 senior researchers, and 10 graduate students.

About MIV Therapeutics

MIV Therapeutics is developing a "next generation" line of advanced
biocompatible stent coatings. The HAp coating technology has successfully passed
animal trials focused on thrombogenicity (blood-clotting) and demanding fatigue
life testing that simulated the radial strain produced by heartbeats in a
coronary artery. MIV's ultra-thin coating has been designed to inhibit

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inflammatory response without drugs. A Collaborative Research Agreement between
MIV and the University of British Columbia has received a research and
development grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of
Canada (NSERC) for the development of HAp as a drug eluting coating. MIV's
manufacturing facility maintains a comprehensive QA (Quality Assurance) system
that meets the guidelines applicable to CE Mark, FDA and GMP requirements.
Please visit www.mivtherapeutics.com for more information.

Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in
this press release are forward-looking statements. Such statements are indicated
by words or phrases such as "believe", "will", "breakthrough","significant",
"indicated", "feel", "revolutionary", "should", "ideal", "extremely" and
"excited". These statements are made under "Safe Harbor" provisions of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ
materially from those described in forward-looking statements and are subject to
risks and uncertainties. See the Company's filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission including, without limitation, the Company's recent Form
10-K and Form 10-Qs, which identify specific factors that may cause actual
results or events to differ materially from those described in the
forward-looking statements.