On Tuesday, CellProthera[1]start-up organisation announced the launch of a clinical trial in 2016 to test “innovative experimental treatment” on “fifty or so” cardiac patients. The trial, which will be carried out in France, the United Kingdom and Singapore, has just been authorised by the European authorities.
The treatment involves “directly injecting into the heart the patient’s own stem cells in an attempt to regenerate tissues damaged by an infarction”. The procedure, which was tested out “on a small scale” in seven patients between 2002 and 2005, has been improved by start-up. The stem cells are obtained “from a single blood sample”, then multiplied using an automated device – a “type of incubator cupboard developed by CellProthera”. The graft obtained after nine days’ incubation in the device will then be “injected directly by the cardiologist into the affected area of the heart (…) under simple local anaesthesia”.
CellProthera intends to market the automated devices and the “disposable graft kits”. It has already raised €20 million and “hopes to find a further €25 million to finance the development of this project”.
The project’s sponsors announced that, “If conclusive results are obtained, the project could be extended to approximately 150 patients and, by 2019, could be available to hundreds of thousands of patients around the globe every year”.
[1] Created in 2008 by Professor Hénon, Haematologist and Stem Cell Specialist
AFP (1/12/2015)