SUNRISE, Fla., Dec. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Bioheart, Inc. announced today the expansion of its team devoted to harnessing electrical stimulation technology to enhance angiogenesis and myogenesis in treating myocardial infarction and heart failure patients. Bioheart already has one issued patent in this area and has two additional patents with numerous claims pending (see below previous release):
August 2, 2005
Bioheart Granted U.S. Patent for Inducing Angiogenesis By Electrical Stimulation of Muscle
Sunrise, FL -- August 2, 2005. Bioheart, Inc. announced today that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued the company a notice of allowance regarding its patent application 09/858,046, entitled Method For Inducing Angiogenesis By Electrical Stimulation of Muscles.
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A number of pre-clinical studies have confirmed the ability of electrical stimulation to improve the performance of cell compositions transplanted in damaged heart muscle.
Jason Sholder, former Chief Operating Officer of Impulse Dynamics, Inc., President and CEO of Raytel Cardiac Services, President of the Cardiac Assist Division of Datascope and Senior Vice President of Technology at St. Jude Medical Inc., CRMD (Cardiac Rhythm Management Division), has been engaged by Bioheart to lead the development of an implantable electrical stimulation device for the enhancement of angiogenesis and myogenesis of transplanted cells.
The prototype electrical stimulators are under development and will be tested in animal studies at Mayo Clinic with Dr. David Holmes and at the Procardiaco Hospital in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, with Dr. Hans Dohmann. The stimulator will have a program sequenced to provide angiogenesis (new blood vessel formation) stimulation for 12 weeks before myogenic cell transplantation. The program will change at the time of cell transplantation to alternate between a signal which helps muscle stem cells derived from skeletal muscle to change from a fast twitch (skeletal muscle) to slow twitch (cardiac workload handling) phenotype and a stem cell recruitment cycle. After a certain time interval, the program will change to a signal designed to differentiate the recruited stem cells into contractile muscle. The final resting program aides in the beat synchronization of the new muscle formed within the previous scar and improves the contraction strength of the newly formed muscle as well as training this muscle to adapt to the cardiac workload environment.
Jason Sholder said, “This is the most exciting product development I have been involved with in my over 30 years in this field. I am pleased that Bioheart recruited me to help lead this incredibly important project.”
“Bringing Jason Sholder aboard and moving this product platform forward to complement and enhance cell transplantation is in line with our commitment to remain the innovation leader in the field of heart muscle repair,” said Howard J. Leonhardt, Chairman and CEO, Bioheart, Inc.
Additional large animal studies are expected to begin in March 2006. Bioheart is seeking development of a working partnership with one of the cardiac pacing companies. Additionally, this electrical stimulation technology is being tested in Bioheart labs to determine the effects on cell culturing.
About Bioheart:
Bioheart, Inc. is sponsoring clinical trials of its MyoCell(TM) myogenic cell composition delivered via the MyoCath(R) catheter for damaged heart muscle repair in the U.S. and Europe. Bioheart is currently enrolling patients at 10 sites in Europe in a Phase II/III randomized study. For more information about Bioheart, please visit http://www.bioheartinc.com or telephone Mr. Jason Griffeth at 954-835-1500.
Statements in this press release that are not strictly historical may be “forward-looking” statements, which involve risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that Bioheart, Inc. will be able to commercially develop cardiovascular cell therapy or electrical stimulation products, that necessary regulatory approvals will be obtained or that any clinical trials will be successful or that the proposed treatments will prove to be safe and/or effective.
Bioheart, Inc.
CONTACT: Mr. Jason Griffeth, Bioheart, +1-954-835-1500
