Coming Soon, Nasal Spray to Combat Heart Disease

Researchers are in the process of developing a nasal spray that could help combat cardiovascular disease.

Researchers found that the new treatment was much more effective in removing fat from arteries than established methods.

Heart Attack - Overview
Heart attack is the death of the heart muscle due to loss of blood supply. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. Other names for heart attack include acute myocardial infarction, coronary thrombosis, and coronary occlusion.

The vaccine can be given as an injection or in a slightly different form as a nasal spray. The product, as yet unnamed, is waiting for regulatory clearance.

A study by Lund University in Sweden found it could reduce plaque by 60 to 70 percent during tests on mice, the Mirror reported.

A trial on 144 heart disease sufferers is under way in the US and Canada.

The British Heart Foundation medical director Prof Peter Weissberg said the vaccine was "very promising".

It works by stimulating the body's immune system to produce antibodies which tackle the build-up of fatty deposits in arteries called plaque.

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The new vaccine or nasal spray could be licensed within five years, the Frontiers in CardioVascular Biology conference in London heard.

"The antibody therapy is likely to be expensive so you could probably only afford to give it to people at high risk rather than everyone," said Lund University's Prof Jan Nilsson.

GIK Treatment Benefits Heart Attack Patients
Intake of glucose, insulin and potassium (GIK) reduces chances of cardiac death in patients with acute coronary syndrome, shows study.

The scientists' conference also heard of promising attempts to repair heart muscles scarred by cardiac arrests in mice. Injections of a virus carrying three genes were successful.

Source-ANI