Regenerative medicine company Juventas
Therapeutics^[1] is touting
the results from 12-month data of a phase 1 clinical trial of
heart failure patients.

At 12 months, heart failure patients treated with the company’s
stem cell therapy showed “significant” improvements in two key
measures — a six-minute distance-walking test, as well as the
Minnesota Living
with Heart Failure Questionnaire^[2], a
patient self-assessment of how heart failure affects daily
life.

Advertisement

Dr. Marc Penn^[3],
Juventas’ founder and chief medical officer, said the results of
the trial suggest the company’s therapy is “inducing fundamental
changes in the heart of treated patients,” according to a
statement from Cleveland-based Juventas.

The company’s technology, JVS-100^[4],
works by recruiting stem cells from the bone marrow to create
new blood vessels and prevent ongoing cell death at the site of
a patient’s injury.

Juventas has plans in the works for two phase 2 clinical
trials. It’s preparing to enroll heart failure patients in a
trial that it hopes further illustrates the efficacy of its
technology. In addition, Juventas has already begun enrollment
in a phase 2a trial that will assess the safety and efficacy of
JVS-100 in critical limb
ischemia^[5] patients.

Another Cleveland company founded by Penn, SironRX
Therapeutics^[6], is
developing the JVS-100 technology for a different application:
wound healing. The two companies share the same CEO, Rahul
Aras.

[Photo from flickr user kurtislizaandchauncey^[7]]

References

1. ^{^} Juventas Therapeutics
   (www.medcitynews.com)
2. ^{^} Minnesota Living with Heart
   Failure Questionnaire (qol.thoracic.org)
3. ^{^} Dr. Marc Penn
   (www.medcitynews.com)
4. ^{^} JVS-100
   (www.juventasinc.com)
5. ^{^} critical limb ischemia
   (www.vdf.org)
6. ^{^} SironRX Therapeutics
   (www.medcitynews.com)
7. ^{^} kurtislizaandchauncey
   (www.flickr.com)