Medistem Initiates Collaboration with Bakoulev Center for Developing Next Generation Cardiac Stem Cell Therapeutics
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Medistem Inc. has announced a collaboration with the Bakoulev Center of Cardiovascular Surgery of Russian Academy of Sciences. The collaboration will focus on clinical development of Medistem's Universal Donor Endometrial Regenerative Cell (ERC) stem cell for treatment of patients with heart failure.
"The support of the Bakoulev Center in performing clinical evaluation of our ERC stem cell in accordance with internationally recognized Good Clinical Practices is a strong signal supporting our research program. Researchers at the Bakoulev Center have pioneered numerous technological advancements in cardiology internationally, as well as being the first to use bone marrow stem cells in Russia. We are honored to be collaborating with an Institute of this stature," said Vladimir Zaharchook, Vice Chairman and Vice President of Medistem Inc.
The Bakoulev Center for Cardiovascular Surgery of Russian Academy of Medical Sciences is considered Russia's Premier center for cardiovascular surgery and cardiology. Every year the Bakoulev Center performs approximately 30,000 diagnostic and treatment procedures, which includes 7,000 open heart surgeries and more than 12,000 angioplasties.
"Medistem's ERC stem cell is unique not only in its source but also in its ability to produce greater amounts of cardiac-relevant therapeutic factors as compared to other stem cells," said Prof. Bockeria. "We look forward to working with Medistem on developing what could be the next generation of stem cell therapies."
The ERC was discovered in 2007 by Medistem scientists (http://www.translational-medicine.com/content/pdf/1479-5876-5-57.pdf), which won the Publication of the Year award from BioMed Central, publisher of over 200 journals.
Recently Medistem reported in the peer-reviewed literature that administration of ERC into a heart failure patient resulted in remission (http://www.intarchmed.com/content/pdf/1755-7682-3-5.pdf). The current collaboration will assess whether these findings can be duplicated in a larger number of patients.
