VasoGenix Pharmaceuticals Inc. (www.vasogenix.net) recently announced the results of collaborative research that the Company conducted with the Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute related to VasoGenix’s first drug, Calcitonin Gene Related Peptide (‘CGRP’), for the treatment of heart failure. The data was presented earlier this month at the Annual Meeting of the American Heart Association in Orlando, Florida. The presentation was entitled: Calcitonin Gene Related Peptide Receptor Regulation in Human Heart Failure. The research was conducted in the laboratory of Sathyamangla V. Naga Prasad, Ph.D., at Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute.
Study results demonstrated that CGRP receptors in heart tissue of heart failure patients are upregulated 38% compared to heart tissue taken from patients without heart failure. Furthermore, the study elucidated the regulation of CGRP receptor components in human heart failure and evaluated the signaling mechanisms involved in CGRP receptor activation.
“CGRP has demonstrated favorable clinical effects on parameters affecting heart failure patients and may be beneficial in multiple ways. It also appears that the blood plasma levels of CGRP may be raised in heart failure patients. Taken together with the upregulation of the CGRP receptor sites in the failing hearts, these data suggest that a human failing heart may desire CGRP to help it function better,” said Lee Southard, Ph.D., CEO of VasoGenix. “Consequently, we have a heightened expectation that our clinical assessment of CGRP in heart failure will produce positive results and significantly impact this disease. This is important because heart failure is the most costly hospital diagnosis and is responsible for more deaths of people over 65 than any other disease."
CGRP is distributed in neural tissue throughout the human body but concentrated in the heart, where nerves secrete it following a heart attack, in an apparent attempt to reduce the infarct size and keep heart cells alive. Unfortunately, an insufficient amount is produced to have a meaningful effect on heart failure (HF) or myocardial infarction (MI). While current drugs for treating HF and MI have a single mechanism of action, CGRP appears to work on several levels: for example, it (1) increases local blood flow enhancing hemodynamic proficiency; (2) protects heart muscle cells from the damage due to lack of oxygen (ischemia); and, (3) modulates the immune system by boosting anti-inflammatory cytokine expression while suppressing pro-inflammatory cytokines, which reduces the inflammatory response to provide a cardioprotective effect. All these actions are meant to minimize heart muscle damage and subsequent scar tissue formation, while promoting the healing process.
VasoGenix Pharmaceuticals Inc. is a preclinical-stage company capitalizing on the hemodynamic and immunomodulation properties of Calcitonin Gene Related Peptide (CGRP) and analogs. It is focused initially on the treatment of heart failure with future products targeted at myocardial infarction and kidney failure. The VasoGenix business strategy is cost-affective and is geared to maximizing ROI and a three-year exit strategy.
