SERCA2a gene therapy proves effective in people with advanced heart failure: Researchers

SERCA2a gene therapy proves effective in people with advanced heart failure: Researchers
4. June 2010 01:17


Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have developed a new gene therapy that is safe and effective in reversing advanced heart failure. SERCA2a (produced as MYDICAR-) is a gene therapy designed to stimulate production of an enzyme that enables the failing heart to pump more effectively. In a Phase II study, SERCA2a injection through a routine minimally invasive cardiac catheterization was safe and showed clinical benefit in treating this patient population and decreasing the severity of heart failure. The data were presented this week at the Heart Failure Congress of the European Society of Cardiology in Berlin.

"SERCA2a met the primary endpoints and appears to be safe and effective in people with advanced heart failure," said trial investigator Jill Kalman, MD, Associate Professor, Medicine, Cardiology, Director of the Cardiomyopathy Program, Mount Sinai School of Medicine. "There is a significant unmet need for treatments in this patient population, and these data indicate that SERCA2a is a promising option for them."

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SERCA2a gene therapy proves effective in people with advanced heart failure: Researchers