- This press release is issued to clarify a Cardio3 BioSciences releaseof July 14, 2010.
Cardio3 BioSciences, a leading Belgian biotechnology company specialisingin regenerative therapies for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, todayannounces that Atta Behfar, M.D. Ph.D, of Mayo Clinic in Rochester,Minnesota, USA will spend a portion of his research rotation visiting Cardio3BioSciences. Dr. Behfar is a Clinical Investigator Fellow through Mayo Schoolof Graduate Medical Education. As part of his educational residency, he is inBelgium on a research rotation. Mayo encourages all students to exploreoutside research opportunities as part of their clinical investigatorfellowship.
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Dr. Behfar will spend his twelve month rotation at the Cardio3BioSciences research labs as well as in the Cardiovascular Center in Aalst.Cardio3 BioSciences and the Cardiovascular Center of Aalst, along with MayoClinic, have collaborated in the development of Cardio3 BioSciences leadproduct C-Cure(R), a revolutionary stem cell treatment for heart failure. Thetechnology underlying C-Cure was originally licensed to Cardio3 BioSciencesfrom Mayo Clinic in 2006 and Dr. Behfar is one of the Mayo Clinic inventorsinvolved in the C-Cure technology. Andre Terzic M.D. Ph.D Mayo Clinic, isalso an inventor of the technology licensed to Cardio3 BioSciences.
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Dr. Behfar was recently recognised for his Mayo Clinic research on thesubject that has led to C-Cure's development at the American College ofCardiology national conference and given the Herman K. Gold YoungInvestigator Award.
C-Cure is designed to reprogram the patient's own stem cells into newheart cells to rebuild the heart. The technology directs the patient's cellsto become cardiopoietic cells - cells 'programmed' to become new heart musclecells when injected back into the heart of a patient, replacing those cellslost during heart failure and restoring heart function.
Cardio3 BioSciences has recently announced positive three-month safetydata and preliminary efficacy results from its Phase II stage clinical trialof C-Cure in heart failure. C-Cure demonstrated a very good safety profileand positive trends in physiological and clinical measures that suggest thatC-Cure, as anticipated from animal model data, is acting on heart muscle in away that could yield important clinical benefits.
Dr. Christian Homsy, CEO of Cardio3 BioSciences, added: "We are delightedthat Dr. Behfar will be spending his research rotation in Belgium as avisiting scientist at Cardio3 BioSciences and at the Cardiovascular Center atAalst. It is a very exciting time for Cardio3 Biosciences with C-Cure havingshown encouraging early results in a clinical setting."
A quote attributed to Dr. Behfar in the Cardio3 BioSciences press releaseof July 14th 2010 should have been attributed to Christian Homsy, Cardio3 CEO.
Mayo's School of Graduate Medical Education has more than 1,400 residentsand fellows participate in Mayo Clinic graduate medical education programseach year. Currently, more than 19,000 alumni of Mayo's residencies andfellowships practice throughout the United States and the world.
About Cardio3 BioSciences
Cardio3 BioSciences is a leading Belgian biotechnology companyspecialising in regenerative therapies for the treatment of cardiovasculardisease. The Company's lead product, C-Cure(R), is a highly innovativeapproach to the treatment of heart failure, one of the world's most pressingunmet medical needs. Based on a strategy developed by Cardio3 BioSciences'founders and leveraging technology licensed from Mayo Clinic, C-Cure isdesigned to reprogram the patient's own stem cells into new heart cells torebuild the heart.
The Cardio3 BioSciences team has extensive experience in developing andcommercialising new pharmaceutical products and medical technologies and theCompany's strategy is to drive the clinical development of C-Cure and tomarket the product itself in major territories.
Cardio3 BioSciences was founded in July 2007 and is based inMont-Saint-Guibert in the Walloon region of Belgium.
About C-Cure and Heart Failure
Heart failure is a serious and common condition in which the heart cannotpump enough blood through the body, leaving the patient debilitated andunable to conduct a normal life. It can result from heart attacks or a numberof other causes. Patients suffering from the condition can experienceshortness of breath and extreme exhaustion. It affects 28 million patientsworldwide and this number is predicted to double by 2020. Therapies availablefor chronic heart failure aim at slowing down the disease progression, butwith the exception of heart transplant, existing drugs or devices do not curechronic heart failure.
C-Cure is produced by taking a patient's own stem cells and, through aproprietary process, differentiating them into cardiopoietic cells that canregenerate damaged heart muscle. The cardiopoietic cells are injected intothe heart of a patient with heart failure where they are designed to behaveidentically to those cells lost in heart failure without carrying the risk ofrejection, something that has not been achieved with previous cell therapiesfor this indication. C-Cure is the outcome of multiple years of researchconducted at Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Minnesota, USA) and at theCardiovascular Center in Aalst (Aalst, Belgium).
Disclosures
Mayo Clinic holds equity in Cardio3 BioSciences as a result ofintellectual property licensed to the company.
Forward looking statements about the technology and its potential cannotbe confirmed by Mayo Clinic at this time.Nina Enegren [email protected] +44(0)207-282-1050 Chris Gardner [email protected]
SOURCE Cardio3 BioSciences
