Clinical Center of Serbia, Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases has treated its first patient with a cell-based therapy for heart failure. The patient is participating in an international trial of C-Cure, a second generation cell therapy developed by Cardio3 BioSciences.
C-Cure is produced by taking a patient’s own bone marrow cells and, through a proprietary process, differentiating them into cardiopoietic cells that can regenerate damaged heart muscle.
Reportedly, the trial, a randomised, prospective, multi-center trial, is designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of C-Cure beyond optimal clinical care in patients with heart failure.
The company has said that in the trial the patients are expected to be randomised to C-Cure in addition to optimal standard therapy versus optimal standard therapy alone. The trial will also evaluate socio-economic implications of therapy. The trial is being carried out at various sites in the EU, and now Serbia.
Jozef Bartunek, co-principal investigator for the trial, said: “C-Cure is a major breakthrough in the field of cardiac regenerative medicine. This clinical trial will be the very first to apply autologous, guided cardiac progenitor cells. This next generation stem cell product could contribute to the physical and functional regeneration of cells in the chronically infarcted heart.”