May 13-14, 2016, London hosted a conference of the European Society of Vascular Surgeons (ESVS). The event was attended by more than 100 experts in the field of vascular surgery and angiology, as well as regenerative medicine from Europe, UK, USA, Russia, France, Germany, Brazil and many others.
At the conference, there was only one Russian report made by the scientific team from Human Stem Cells Institute (HSCI) and Ryazan State Medical University, dedicated to the 3-year follow-up study of patients treated with gene therapy drug Neovasculgen, and new data on the pharmacokinetics of the drug.
Neovasculgen was developed by HSCI and it is the world’s first drug with a therapeutic angiogenesis mechanism of action (therapeutic growth of blood vessels). The drug is a plasmid DNA carrying the human VEGF 165 gene encoding vascular endothelial growth factor. Since 2011, the drug is used in medical practice for the treatment of lower limb ischemia. To date, 1,500 patients were treated with Neovasculgen. In 2016, Russian Government included the drug in Vital and Essential Drugs (VED) list.
Observations of patients receiving Neovasculgen treatment, clearly show that the drug is safe, increases the amount of capillaries in the ischemic tissues, improves blood circulation, increases pain-free walk distance (PWD) by 5-7 times, reduces the frequency of amputations and mortality in patients with chronic lower limb ischemia. HSCI The report was warmly welcomed by the scientific committee and the conference participants. Abstracts will be published in the European Journal of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery (IF 2.490).
Importantly, the therapeutic angiogenesis as a treatment method has broad prospects and Neovasculgen drug may be useful in the future for the treatment of a variety of diseases and ischemic conditions. Currently, Human Stem Cells Institute is working to expand the indications for use of the drug in Russia and on obtaining data on clinical efficacy in the treatment of coronary heart disease (CHD), diabetic foot syndrome (SDS), and traumatic injuries of peripheral nerves.
