(USA)
An American biosciences firm has been awarded a grant to advance a therapy it claims could be a game-changer for people who have suffered a heart attack.
Novo Biosciences will use the $1.5 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to test its pioneering therapy in pigs. It is hoped the natural compound, called MSI-1436, will one day be able to ‘regenerate heart muscle tissue in heart attack victims’.
“If MSI-1436 is found to be effective in pigs, Novo Biosciences will seek an FDA IND (Investigational New Drug) authorization to conduct clinical trials in heart attack patients,” explained Voot Yin, chief scientific officer of Novo Biosciences, and co-inventor of MSI-1436.
Yin added: “The current therapies for heart damage are limited to efforts to prevent secondary heart attacks and to transplantation for heart failure. If MSI-1436 shows results in humans that are anything like what we have demonstrated in mice, it will be a game-changer for patients who have suffered a heart attack.”
