It was requested that I focus a little more on the science behind our work here at Theravitae. Stem Cell Guy aims to please, so I will go over our clinical trial that we presented in Chicago at the annual American Heart Association meeting in November, 2006.
By using sophisticated tissue culture technology facilitating the isolation, expansion and differentiation of angiogenic cell precursors (ACPs) to an amount sufficient to induce blood vessel formation in the heart, the scientists at TheraVitae have developed VesCell™, which is used now by doctors in Thailand and Singapore for patients suffering from severe heart disease. Cells are isolated from the blood, processed outside the body and then administered to the patient into regions of the heart suffering from reduced blood supply.
Prof. Damras Tresukosol MD Director of Cardiology at the Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University in Bangkok and the Principal Investigator of the trial, presented the results which showed significant improvement in most patients at six month follow-up:
Over 90% of patients reported subjective improvement of their physical condition and ability to perform physical exercise
Over 70% showed improvement in treadmill exercise capacity
Over 75% of patients showed objective improvement in the perfusion defect of the ischemic region
The results are a major step toward proving the safety and efficacy of VesCell™ therapy, and demonstrate the reliability of TheraVitae’s cell manufacturing process. Moreover, they illustrate the considerable benefits and low risk that VesCell™ therapy provides to patients.
Professor Tresukosol said: “These results are extremely encouraging and reaffirm our belief that VesCell™ can make a substantial and positive difference in the lives of patients suffering from severe angina pectoris.”
Valentin Fulga, MD, CEO of TheraVitae, added: “Working on this landmark study with our Thai colleagues has been both exciting and fruitful. By presenting these encouraging results together at the American Heart Association meeting, we hope to have added our small contribution to the medical community’s knowledge about the utilization of adult stem cell therapies. Together with the recent publication of our scientific article in the British Journal of Hematology., we hope that our technology is starting to become acknowledged by the medical and scientific communities.”
If you would like to read something even drier(albeit interesting to some researchers) than that press release, you can click on that British Journal link above and check out an even more scientific explanation of our work.
Thank you!!!
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