Regenerative Medicine Insights

BioCardia announced that the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health enrolled its first patient in the Phase 3 CardiAMP HF II trial. This trial is testing CardiAMP, an autologous (patient’s own) bone marrow cell therapy, in people with ischemic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) who still have signs of heart stress despite optimized medical care.

This was a prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial - which is considered the gold standard for clinical research. Patients used their own stem cells to regenerate damaged heart muscle whose heart failure was caused by blocked coronary arteries (ischemic), showing fewer heart-related complications and better symptoms compared to placebo.

Researchers treated 17 heart attack patients with an infusion of stem cells taken from their own hearts. A year after the procedure, the amount of scar tissue had shrunk by about 50%.

Overview of MSCs for therapeutic use in heart disease

Critical Review of multiple clinical trials using MSCs for heart disease conditions

Intramyocardial delivery of stem cells is more complicated than intracoronary administration, but it is safe and may provide better therapeutic outcomes.

This study illustrate that quality‐of‐life and functional capacity parameters improve with cell‐based therapy even if classic measures of cardiac function, such as ejection fraction, do not.