A roundup of corporate news from the Heart Failure Society of America‘s annual meeting, which took place from Sept. 13-16 in Boston:
Corventis, a developer of wireless cardiovascular solutions, has completed enrollment in the company’s MUSIC (Multi-Sensor Monitoring in Congestive Heart Failure) clinical trials. The goal of the MUSIC program is to develop an algorithm to predict heart failure events. A total of 542 patients have been enrolled in the MUSIC trials. The company’s PiiX wearable sensor collects and transmits patient data, giving doctors an ongoing glimpse into the patient’s health status.
A two-year study funded by Medtronic found that training doctors to stick to heart-failure treatment guidelines increased the use of implantable devices. Replicating the results outside the study may help the slow-growing defibrillator market to expand.
BioHeart announced positive Phase II/III data in its MARVEL clinical trials. Patients with advanced heart failure who had adult stem cell therapy injected into their heart muscle showed significant improvement. In a 6-minute test, they were able to walk 91 meters further than they could 6 months earlier. Patients in the placebo group walked 4 meters less.
Cytokinetics presented Phase IIa clinical trial data on intravenous infusions of omecantiv mecarbil. One study looked at the drug’s effect on patients with stable heart failure; the other study involved patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy and angina.
Palatin Technologies presented findings from a Phase IIa trial of its heart failure drug, PL-3994. The study evaluated the safety of PL-3994 in patients who were taking high blood pressure medications. Future trials will involve administering PL-3994 to heart failure patients with the objective of reducing their hospitalization rate.
According to the National Institutes of Health, approximately 5 million people in the United States suffer from heart failure.