RCT Completes Early Preclinical Work on Chimeric Peptides for Rapid Treatment of Congestive Heart Failure.Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers TUCSON, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 1, 2003 Preclinical studies of chimeric natriuretic peptides to rapidly treat acute congestive heart failure congestive heart failure, inability of the heart to expel sufficient blood to keep pace with the metabolic demands of the body. In the healthy individual the heart can tolerate large increases of workload for a considerable length of time. (CHF CHF In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the Swiss Franc. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. ) show lead candidates are nonimmunogenic and extremely potent during repeated dosing studies in primates. Research Corporation Technologies, which supported the studies, now seeks a licensee to continue developing the peptides for CHF and other indications. RCT has an exclusive worldwide license to the technology developed by John C. Burnett, M.D. and Ondrej Lisy, M.D., Ph.D., at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. The chimeric natriuretic peptide technology is protected by U.S. Patent No. 6,407,211. Foreign patent applications are pending. CHF is a progressive disease in which the heart gradually fails to adequately supply the body with blood. About 4.7 million Americans suffer from CHF in the United States alone. At least 550,000 new cases are diagnosed each year, more than 900,000 patients are admitted to hospitals and more than 275,000 deaths occur as a result of the disease. As the heart fails, physiologic mechanisms initially compensate to maintain cardiac output. When the heart is unable to pump blood efficiently, the body produces natriuretic peptides to help ease the heart's load. These naturally occurring peptides bring about vasodilation vasodilation /vaso·di·la·tion/ (-di-la´shun) 1. increase in caliber of blood vessels. 2. a state of increased caliber of blood vessels. , natriuresis natriuresis /na·tri·ure·sis/ (na?tre-ur-e´sis) excretion of sodium in the urine, particularly in excessive amounts. pressure natriuresis (increased sodium excretion) and diuresis diuresis /di·ure·sis/ (di?u-re´sis) increased excretion of urine. osmotic diuresis that resulting from the presence of nonabsorbable or poorly absorbable, osmotically active substances in the (increased water excretion). Natriuretic peptides also decrease several neurohormones that become injurious over time. All these actions work in concert on the blood vessels, heart and kidney to decrease fluid load on the heart. Burnett and Lisy created chimeric versions of these natural peptides for use intravenously in emergency and cardiac care units to rapidly assist cardiac output, decrease blood pressure, and increase urinary sodium and volume excretion in a patient. The current CHF drug regimen uses inotropes, vasodilators Vasodilators Definition Vasodilators are medicines that act directly on muscles in blood vessel walls to make blood vessels widen (dilate). Purpose Vasodilators are used to treat high blood pressure (hypertension). , diuretics and beta blockers that address these parameters individually and much more slowly. Burnett and Lisy's preliminary studies in animal models of CHF showed their lead peptides to be equal to or more effective than Scios' recombinant human natriuretic peptide, Natrecor(TM). Their data also indicate the chimeric peptides have greater renal potency than Natrecor(TM). Detailed summaries of these studies and the immunogenicity immunogenicity /im·mu·no·ge·nic·i·ty/ (-je-nis´it-e) the property enabling a substance to provoke an immune response, or the degree to which a substance possesses this property. studies are available upon request. |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion