April 18, 2024

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AstraZeneca and Moderna mRNA technology can treat heart failure

AstraZeneca and Moderna mRNA technology can treat heart failure



AstraZeneca and Moderna mRNA technology can treat heart failure.

Although AstraZeneca and Moderna are the main competitors in the field of COVID-19 vaccines, the two companies have an interesting mRNA agreement, and the agreement has largely gone unnoticed.

The two parties announced new interim data at a recent scientific meeting of the American Heart Association, which reached a “peak” in a small study consisting of 11 patients, showing that mRNA technology has a good application prospect in heart patients.

For many years, the couple (Uğur Şahi and Öezlem Türeci, founders of Moderna ) have been silently using Moderna’s mRNA technology to help patients with heart disease (and other diseases), and the new interim data released recently provide a glimmer of hope. That is, outside of infectious diseases, this platform can have a wider range of applications.

We know that mRNA companies like BioNTech, Moderna, and CureVac are using their technologies to fight influenza and cancer, and have quickly proven their value in the treatment of SARS-CoV-02, but heart failure may also be a viable target.

Starting around 2017, AstraZeneca and the then little-known, still before the IPO, before the pandemic, Moderna was studying several mRNA drugs for heart disease. One of these therapies is AZD8601, a protein that induces blood vessel growth and encodes vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF-A), and has reached the primary endpoint of safety and tolerability in patients with heart failure in a phase 2a trial.

These data were formally announced at the American Heart Association scientific meeting on Monday. This is the first clinical trial that directly injected what AstraZeneca said naked mRNA was directly into the heart of patients undergoing elective coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG).

It is an mRNA-based therapy. The mRNA is formulated in citrate buffer without lipid encapsulation, encoding VEGF-A, and is used for local administration of patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery. The idea is that it can help stimulate the heart to heal after injury. We don’t know if it can play a role in large-scale commercial applications, because so far, we have reached a “peak” in a small study of 11 patients, of which 7 received AZD8601 treatment and 4 received placebo injection.

However, AstraZeneca and its partner Moderna stated that “trends were observed in three exploratory efficacy endpoints”, namely: left ventricular ejection fraction, NT-proBNP (a biomarker that measures hormone levels, in patients with heart failure) Elevated) and functional patients reported results compared with placebo.

The large British pharmaceutical company said: “Although the data is limited and cannot show significant effects, it provides an opportunity for AstraZeneca to further carry out the AZD8601 trial.” There are still many questions to be answered, and deeper tests need to be done, but this A pair of data has at least enough confidence to enter the next stage.

Mene Pangalos, executive vice president of R&D for AstraZeneca Biopharmaceuticals, said, “More than 1 billion heart cells may be lost during a heart attack. These early results indicate the potential of mRNA therapy in stimulating VEGF-A production, which can be a significant factor for heart failure and other deficiencies. Patients with blood vessel diseases provide options for repairing and improving the disease.”

Novartis’ Entresto is one of the drugs recently approved for the treatment of heart failure. Despite this situation, general heart disease is still a major medical need that has not been effectively met around the world.

AstraZeneca and Moderna mRNA technology can treat heart failure

(source:internet, reference only)


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