Article of the Russian team of physicians dedicated to the results of long-term monitoring of patients after Neovasculgen treatment was published in American scientific journal Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology and Therapeutics.
The specialists of the Russian Research Centre named after B.V. Petrovsky, Ryazan State Medical University named after I.P. Pavlov and the Yaroslavl State Medical Academy evaluated the safety and efficacy of gene therapy induction of vessel growth in ischemic limb tissues. The study showed that results in patients treated with Neovasculgen were significantly different from the control group on the main criteria used to assess the severity of the health status of this disease. Pain-free walk distance of patients after two years has increased three times and in some patients (with a severe form of the disease (critical limb ischemia) — by 7-8 times. Long-term monitoring of patients showed no side effects associated with the use of «first-in-class» drug.
Peripheral Arterial Disease is a scourge of the XX century. For a long time lower limb ischemia was outside the field of view of researchers and public health officials. Today, when the scale of the disease became clear (not less than 202 million patients in the world) more and more attention is paid to the problem. Unfortunately, in some cases available surgical methods as well as endovascular surgery are not able to help patient and to ensure the preservation of the limb. Collateral blood vessels are very important for patients with lower limb ischemia and their growth can be achieved with therapeutic angiogenesis wich is the launch of the natural process by which new blood vessels are formed to supply the organ or part in deficit with oxygen-rich blood.
Neovasculgen is the world’s first drug with a therapeutic angiogenesis mechanism of action. The drug was registered in 2011 and is being used in clinical practice since 2012.
At the end of December 2014 the Russian Strategic Initiatives Agency’s advisory council endorsed HSCI’s program called «The development of the production and promotion of innovative drug Neovasculgen». RSIA will accompany the project and support the inclusion of Neovasculgen in the list of Vital and Essensial Drugs (VED).
Therapeutic angiogenesis has great potential, and Neovasculgen drug can be used for the treatment of a number of other ischemic conditions. Right now Human Stem Cell Institute is working to expand the indications for use of the drug. The company plans to obtain data on the clinical efficacy in the treatment of coronary heart disease (CHD) in the treatment of diabetic foot syndrome and traumatic injuries of peripheral nerves.
