Bioheart, Inc. - (OTC Bulletin Board: BHRT) The mission of the Cell Therapy Foundation is to improve public health through the support of effective adult stem cell research and education. The Foundation aims to promote basic and applied knowledge, processes and cell therapies. As part of this mission Cell Therapy Foundation provides updates concerning advances in adult stem cell research. A recent initiative tabulating clinical trials involving cell therapy identified Bioheart's MyoCell as one of only a few cell therapies that are presently in the Phase III stage of clinical trials in the United States. MyoCell has shown the ability to improve heart function in patients suffering from heart failure.
At the Heart Failure Society of America Annual Meeting, Bioheart presented interim results from their randomized, double blinded, placebo controlled Phase II/III clinical trial called MARVEL. The MARVEL study focused on treating significant scar tissue damage caused from a previous heart attack in advanced heart failure patients. The results were outstanding. MyoCell treated patients improved 91.7 meters in the six minute walk test, while the placebo patients declined 4 meters.
Dr. Warren Sherman, Lead Investigator of the MARVEL trial and Director of Stem Cell Research and Regenerative Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center stated, "The early positive clinical results from Bioheart's MyoCell are truly an example of how far along adult stem cell research has come. We are very close to proving the value of adult stem cell therapy for a major unmet indication such as heart failure. This is very exciting to all of us in the field."