CIRM awards $6 million to advance research for heart attack and heart failure treatments

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In a promising development for cardiovascular health, Arjun Deb, MD, a professor of medicine and molecular, cell, and developmental biology at UCLA, has received a $6 million award from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) to advance his groundbreaking research on heart attack and heart failure treatments.

Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death globally, accounting for approximately one-third of all deaths worldwide. After a heart attack, the heart muscle sustains irreversible damage, leading to a predictable and often devastating progression towards heart failure.

Currently, no therapies exist that effectively improve the heart's repair process post-heart attack, making heart failure a significant medical challenge.

Dr. Deb and his team have engineered a therapeutic humanized monoclonal antibody targeting ENPP1, a protein that exacerbates heart damage through inflammation and fibrosis after a cardiovascular event. By inhibiting ENPP1, this innovative one-time treatment aims to curtail inflammation, reduce fibrosis, and prevent the onset of heart failure following a heart attack.

Preclinical studies have demonstrated that a single dose of this targeted drug therapy can prevent scar tissue formation and enhance cardiac function after a heart attack.

The new grant will enable Dr. Deb's laboratory to scale up the manufacturing of the drug product and continue research on the therapy's safety and efficacy in larger animal models. The team aims to complete all necessary preclinical testing to submit an Investigational New Drug application, moving the project towards a phase 1 clinical trial within one to two years.

The need for such a therapy is urgent, with close to 7 million people in the United States living with heart failure and a post-diagnosis survival rate of only about 50 percent over five years. In California, cardiovascular disease accounts for nearly one-third of all deaths, underscoring the critical demand for effective treatments.

"We are very grateful for agencies such as CIRM who have supported this project from its very beginning," said Dr. Deb. "We hope to deliver this new therapeutic agent to the millions of people with heart failure in California and beyond."

Dr. Abla Creasey, Vice President of Therapeutics Development at CIRM, added, "The prevention of heart failure following a heart attack is a high unmet medical need. It is intriguing to know that heart failure from heart attacks could potentially be prevented by a one-time treatment with this drug."

This highlights the potential of Dr. Deb's research to transform the treatment landscape for heart attack and heart failure patients, offering new hope for improved cardiac health and quality of life.

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