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Hope Heart Institute And BEAT BioTherapeutics Partner |
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Wednesday, 03 June 2009 |
Pacific Northwest based heart disease non-profit partners with translational science company to bring medical discoveries from the lab to the patient.
Science will move from bench to bedside a little smoother in the Northwest, thanks to a partnership between The Hope Heart Institute and BEAT BioTherapeutics.
The partnership involves a service sharing arrangement and shared non-confidential scientific information to the betterment of both The Hope and BEAT Bio towards a brighter prognosis for future cardiac patients.
The addressable market is big, really big -- The World Health Organization reports that in 2004, 29% of deaths worldwide were due to cardiovascular disease. Heart attacks (myocardial infarcts) are the number one cause of death in the industrialized world.
Because the heart has no significant regenerative ability, infarcts “heal” by scar formation, and many patients suffer a general downward spiral (in the form of congestive heart failure) after an infarct. It is estimated that 7M men and 6M women, are living with the consequences of a myocardial infarction.
BEAT Bio researchers have developed technology that enhances the survival of cardiac tissue constructs and which delay the formation of necrotic and scar tissue in ischemic tissue. This research will be shared with Hope researchers in efforts to move basic science from bench to bedside.
BEAT Bio & Hope Heart Plans
- Further develop stem cell differentiation technologies to include autologous stem cells for both cardiac pacemaker cells and ventricular cardiomyocytes.
- Complete preclinical studies of our methods in animal models followed by clinical trials of both cardiac pacemaker and ventricular cardiomyocyte constructs in humans.
- Develop robust scale-up technologies and protocols to readily produce clinical materials for cardiac repair clinical trials.
- Commercialize these technologies for human cardiac repair (for both arrhythmias and reduced ejection fraction due to infarcts) toward eventual prevention of heart failure.
The scientific co-founders of BEAT Bio are Chuck Murry, MD., Ph.D. and Michael Laflamme, MD., Ph.D.—both of the University of Washington’s Institute for Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine (ISCRM)—along with Dr. Buddy Ratner of UW Bioengineering and Gregory Mahairas, Ph.D., formerly of the UW High Throughput Sequencing Center. The CEO is Mr. Stephen Quinn.
BEAT BioTherapeutics Corporation (BEAT Bio) is a Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine company focused on structural and functional repair of the heart. BEAT Bio addresses two primary aspects of cardiac damage that lead to eventual heart failure – arrhythmia, and restoration of damaged ventricular tissues that are a consequence of myocardial infarction. www.beatbio.com
The Hope Heart Institute, a Seattle-area non-profit, has a 50-year history of revolutionary medical advances and educational curricula that make heart disease – America’s No. 1 cause of death – more treatable, beatable, and preventable. www.hopeheart.org
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