Drug Candidate Found to Stimulate Growth of New Blood Vessels

Research has shown that when this protein is injected into the hearts of animals with experimentally induced heart disease, new blood vessels grow in the injected areas.

Interestingly, the protein, called Cardio Vascu-Grow, is a protein therapy, not a gene therapy. Gene therapy involves the insertion of genes into an individual's cells, which then produce a protein to treat a disease. The disadvantage with gene therapy is that it is difficult to determine when the gene stops producing the protein. Protein therapy, however, is the insertion of a controlled amount of protein. CVBT-141 is a protein drug that is a natural product found in the human body, and since is a human protein; it is highly unlikely to cause an allergic or immunogenic reaction in patients. The agent was developed by a biopharmaceutical company CardioVascular BioTherapeutics, Inc. (CVBT; Las Vegas, NV, USA).

The company currently has ongoing clinical trials in Europe, and recently completed a phase I trial for no-option heart patients--coronary heart disease patients who are not eligible for conventional interventional therapies including bypass and stenting procedures--working with six major medical centers. In addition, CVBT has also initiated clinical trials in the area of impaired wound healing seen in diabetics, and in patients with peripheral artery disease. Initial trials were conducted in Germany, and the phase II clinical trial is planned to be an international, multi-site clinical trial performed in the United States, Canada, and Europe, for patients not eligible for traditional interventional therapies such as bypass or stenting procedures.

Dr. Thomas J. Stegmann, cofounder and chief clinical officer of CVBT, discovered this protein therapy in the 1990s when he injected the growth factor into the hearts of 40 patients with end-stage coronary heart disease with no viable surgical or interventional treatment options. Results showed that the protein created a significant growth in arteries and new blood flow to the ischemic areas in the heart, with no side effects. The results of these studies were published in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation in 1998. Dr. Stegmann is now working with CVBT to bring this protein therapy to market and believes the process of angiogenesis therapy represents an excellent therapeutic target for the treatment of cardiovascular disease. He further believes that protein-based therapy is becoming a key treatment alternative for patients with coronary artery disease.


Related Links:
CardioVascular BioTherapeutics