Heart Failure Risk May Be Reduced by Stem Cells, Study...

Heart Failure Risk May Be Reduced by Stem Cells, Study Shows
November 15, 2011, 1:10 AM EST
Diabetes Will Strike One in 10 Adults by 2030, IDF Says

Intensive Diabetes Treatment Cuts Kidney Damage in Half in Study
By Natasha Khan


Nov. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Patients with heart failure can reduce the risk of further occurrences by as much as 80 percent using an experimental stem-cell treatment, according to a study whose results are among the most promising for such therapies.

In research by Mesoblast Ltd., 45 patients who had moderate to severe congestive heart failure were given a shot of the Revascor treatment and standard medicines, while 15 didn’t receive the experimental drug. The therapy was safe and well- tolerated at all doses, according to results of the Phase II study presented yesterday at an American Heart Association meeting in Orlando, Florida.

Mesoblast said it expects to enter Phase III trials in the first half of next year. Revascor may begin making a profit for the Melbourne-based company by 2015, when the treatment is expected to go on sale, David Stanton and Zara Lyons, analysts at Nomura Holdings Inc., wrote in a Nov. 4 note.

The data was “outstanding,” Stuart Roberts, an analyst at Bell Potter Securities Ltd. in Sydney, said by telephone today. “This is probably the biggest thing in heart failure in 10 years.”

Roberts rates the stock “speculative buy” and has a 12- month price estimate of A$16.

The trial involved patients between the ages of 20 and 80 who were tracked for at least 12 months. Revascor, derived from mesenchymal stem cells taken from another person, cut the overall risk of a major adverse cardiac event by 78 percent.

Over an average followup period of 22 months, one patient in the first group who received Revascor died, while there were three fatalities in the control group.

Heart Pumping Ability

Mesoblast said patients who got the highest dose of Revascor didn’t show improved ejection fraction, a measure of the amount of blood pumped out of the heart each time it beats. Those given the lowest dose showed a significant improvement over three months in ejection fraction, with a “sustained but less pronounced effect” over 12 months.

My mind was made up 8 years ago .. its never too late Cheers Vin