Cardiomyopathy News and Research

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Cardiomyopathy is a group of diseases with primary, usually diffuse, involvement of the myocardium. The myocardial disease is not secondary to ischaemic, valvular, congenital or pericardial disease.

Implanted ventricular assist heart pump for infants project awarded $5.6M federal contract

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and their collaborators have been awarded a $5.6 million federal contract to pursue the continued development of an implanted ventricular assist heart pump for infants and small children with congenital or acquired heart disease. The project aims to provide much-needed access to the sophisticated technologies that have saved the lives of older heart failure patients.

5 Feb 2010

NHLBI awarded four contracts to test new devices to help children with congenital heart defects

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded four contracts totaling $23.6 million to begin preclinical testing of devices to help children born with congenital heart defects or those who develop heart failure.

5 Feb 2010

Shire's clinical study results for treatment of Gaucher disease to be presented at LDN World Symposium

Shire plc, the global specialty biopharmaceutical company, today announced that data from one of three Phase III clinical trials for velaglucerase alfa, the company's enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) in development for the treatment of Type 1 Gaucher disease, will be presented at the Lysosomal Disease Network (LDN) World Symposium, February 10-12, 2010 in Miami, Florida.

4 Feb 2010

Simple genetic test can help in detecting heart abnormalities

Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a genetic disease that causes the heart muscle to become abnormally large. It often goes undetected and, as a result, HCM has the dubious distinction of being the leading cause of sudden death in children, young adults and athletes.

2 Feb 2010

FDA approves neurostimulation treatment for heart failure

The FDA recently approved the first study of neurostimulation as a treatment for heart failure, a chronic disease that affects nearly six million Americans and is the leading cause of hospitalization in America.

2 Feb 2010

ZOLL Medical's LifeVest Wearable Defibrillator named one of top five innovative medical devices of 2009

ZOLL Medical Corporation, a manufacturer of medical devices and related software solutions, announced today that the Medical Device Network has named the LifeVest® Wearable Defibrillator as one of the five most innovative and life-changing medical devices of 2009.

28 Jan 2010

Physician attributes sudden death in young athletes to inherited heart diseases

The sporting world lost two young athletes this month to sudden cardiac death. Preliminary autopsy reports indicate that Chicago Bears defensive end Gaines Adams, 26, and Southern Indiana center Jeron Lewis, 21, both had enlarged hearts at the time of their death.

20 Jan 2010

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals presents data on multiple therapeutic programs at RNAi Symposium

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, today announced that it presented data from multiple pre-clinical and clinical programs at the “RNA Silencing: Mechanism, Biology, and Application” Keystone Symposium held January 14-19, 2010 in Keystone, Colorado. Alnylam and its collaborators presented data from Alnylam’s therapeutic programs including transthyretin (TTR)-mediated amyloidosis and Huntington’s disease, as well as new data on delivery approaches for the systemic delivery of RNAi therapeutics.

20 Jan 2010

World Heart's Levacor VAD implant performed at INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center

World Heart Corporation ("WorldHeart"), a developer of mechanical circulatory systems, announced today that the first U.S. implant of the Levacor Ventricular Assist Device ("VAD") was successfully performed at INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center ("INTEGRIS") in Oklahoma City on Wednesday, January 13, 2010.

19 Jan 2010

Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy: A deadly disease that often goes undetected

The tragic news of Chicago Bears defensive end Gaines Adams, 26, and Southern Indiana center Jeron Lewis, 21, whose sudden deaths are both suspected to be from Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM), are vital reminders that this deadly disease often goes undetected.

19 Jan 2010

Link between dystrophin gene and age of cardiac disease onset in BMD patients identified

Investigators in The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital have identified a link between specific modifications of the dystrophin gene and the age of cardiac disease onset in patients with Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD). This information could help clinicians provide early cardiac intervention for BMD patients based on genetic testing results performed on a blood sample. These findings are a result of analysis of the largest number of BMD patients to date and are published in the December issue of the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Genetics.

18 Jan 2010

PDGFR's role in new blood vessel formation may explain cardiovascular side effects

A growth factor that is a common target of cancer drugs also plays an important role in the heart's response to stress, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report online this week in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

12 Jan 2010

UCLA: Metformin can be used to treat patients with diabetes and advanced heart failure

A new study has shown that metformin, a drug often used in the treatment of diabetes mellitus, is safe for use in treating patients who have both diabetes and advanced heart failure.

7 Jan 2010

ARYx Therapeutics receives guidance in writing from FDA on tecarfarin

ARYx Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, today announced that is has received guidance in writing from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) confirming that the existing development pathway remains acceptable to seek regulatory approval of ARYx’s novel anticoagulant agent, tecarfarin (ATI-5923).

5 Jan 2010

ARCA biopharma submits Gencaro trial protocol for review under the FDA’s SPA process

ARCA biopharma, Inc. today announced that it has submitted a study protocol for review under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) process for the design of a clinical trial to assess the safety and efficacy of GencaroTM, in approximately 3,000 patients with chronic heart failure who have the genotype that appears to respond most favorably to Gencaro. Gencaro is the Company’s investigational, pharmacologically unique beta-blocker and mild vasodilator.

23 Dec 2009

Shire submits REPLAGAL BLA with the FDA

Shire plc , the global specialty biopharmaceutical company, today announced that it has submitted a BLA with the FDA for REPLAGAL(R) (agalsidase alfa), its enzyme replacement therapy for Fabry disease. REPLAGAL first received marketing authorization in the European Union in 2001, and is approved for the treatment of Fabry disease in 45 countries.

22 Dec 2009

Incyte announces positive results from ongoing Phase I/II clinical trial for INCB7839

Incyte Corporation announced today positive results from an ongoing Phase I/II clinical trial for its selective oral sheddase inhibitor, INCB7839, involving 46 patients with HER2 positive metastatic breast cancer.

14 Dec 2009

Protein mutation can cause a new form of heart failure

Over the course of a lifetime, the heart pumps some 250 million liters of blood through the body. In the order to do this, the muscle fibers of the heart have to be extremely durable. The research group headed by Dr. Wolfgang Rottbauer, vice chair of the Department of Medicine III at Heidelberg University Hospital (Chairman: Prof. Dr. H. A. Katus), has discovered a protein that is responsible for the stability of the smallest muscular unit, the sarcomere.

25 Nov 2009

FDA grants Fast Track designation for ARCA biopharma's Gencaro

ARCA biopharma, Inc. today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has designated as a Fast Track development program the investigation of GencaroTM, the Company’s investigational, pharmacologically unique beta-blocker and mild vasodilator, for the reduction of cardiovascular mortality and cardiovascular hospitalizations in a genotype-defined heart failure population.

23 Nov 2009

ARCA biopharma provides financial and Gencaro NDA update

ARCA biopharma, Inc. today announced its planned next steps in response to the May 29, 2009 Complete Response Letter (CRL) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for ARCA’s New Drug Application (NDA) seeking approval for GencaroTM (bucindolol hydrochloride) for the treatment of patients with chronic heart failure. Following receipt of the CRL, the Company and the FDA have held a series of meetings to discuss how best to address the requirements identified in the CRL.

17 Nov 2009