August 2, 2013, ST. LOUIS - Saint Louis University has enrolled its first patients in a new clinical trial that will further assess the efficacy of gene therapy in patients with advanced heart failure.
The new study, “CUPID 2b”, follows the initial exploratory study, “CUPID” that enrolled 40 patients nationally and tested whether MYDICAR - a genetically-targeted regulatory protein replacement therapy - could repair heart muscle that was damaged by a prior heart attack or cardiomyopathy, a heart muscle disease. The new trial will enroll a total of 200 patients in 52 sites worldwide.
“This trial is the next important step in advancing gene therapy as a treatment for advanced heart failure,” said Paul Hauptman, M.D., professor of internal medicine at Saint Louis University School of Medicine and principal investigator of the study. “With this new study we will now be able to assess whether the early impressive improvements seen in CUPID can be replicated in a much larger number of patients.”
(For more about the study, visit the Saint Louis University website here.)
In an interview with KMOX radio, Michael Lim, MD, co-director of the Center for Comprehensive Cardiovascular Care at Saint Louis University Hospital and a SLUCare physician, said, “We have an opportunity where we can perform a heart catheterization on folks and infuse this new gene therapy product through the arteries in their heart,” equating it to helping “your heart get better gas mileage,” similar to what a fuel injection cleaner does for your car engine.
SLU is the only medical center in the region and one of only 33 in the nation that is participating in the study. To participate in the trial, please contact the Cardiology Research Office at Saint Louis University at 314-577-8876.