Peripheral ischaemia

Seed Financing was led by Broadview Ventures NOTTINGHAM, England, Feb. 20, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- IsomAb Ltd, a UK-based biotechnology company, announced today the closing of a £7.5 million (approximately US$9.4 million) Seed financing round, led by Broadview Ventures, with further backing from existing investor, SCVC and participation from MEIF Proof of Concept & Early Stage Fund, which is managed by Mercia Ventures and part of the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF). Founded in 2022, IsomAb is developing isoform-specific disease modifying antibody treatments for serious and life-threatening diseases with an initial focus on peripheral ischaemia. The Seed funding round enables the company to advance the pre-clinical development of its lead antibody, ISM-001. Jackie Turnbull, CEO of IsomAb, commented, "IsomAb's lead program targeting VEGF-A165b aims to treat peripheral arterial disease in the large proportion of patients with concomitant metabolic syndrome and Type II diabetes. We are delighted to have attracted a group of high-quality investors to support the early development of our novel program toward CTA filing to enter the clinic." Benjamin Kreitman, Principal at Broadview Ventures, Inc. said, "Peripheral artery disease remains a significant unmet medical need worldwide, and the development of novel treatments to alleviate ischemia could improve clinical care for millions of patients. As Broadview's investment strategy is focused on the improvement of human health in the areas of cardiovascular disease and stroke, we are delighted to accelerate this highly innovative approach to treat peripheral artery disease." SCVC Managing Partner, Harry Destecroix said, "We have been an investor in IsomAb since its incorporation and we are delighted to now be working with Broadview Ventures to take this technology to the clinic. There is enormous impact potential for patients aligning to a key area of SCVC's mission: the advancement of Human Health." Hannah Tapsell Chapman of Mercia Ventures added: "IsomAb offers a fresh approach to the treatment of vascular disease. Although the initial focus will be on treating diabetics, research shows high levels of VEGF-A165b are also linked to increased risk of heart attack and stroke in non-diabetics, so it could have much wider applications. The funding will enable the team to progress the development of the lead compound ISM-001 towards human clinical trials." The Midlands Engine Investment Fund is supported financially by the European Union using funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020 and the European Investment Bank. About IsomAb Ltd IsomAb Ltd, founded in 2022, is a UK-based biopharmaceutical company and is a spin-out from the University of Nottingham; early research was conducted at the University of Bristol and funding has been received from the British Heard Foundation, Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council. . About Broadview Ventures Broadview Ventures is a mission-driven investment organization that makes targeted investments in early-stage companies to accelerate the development of innovative therapeutics, devices, and diagnostics for cardiovascular disease and stroke. Broadview is funded by the Leducq Charitable Trust. broadviewventures.org. About SCVC SCVC is a leading UK emerging manager, focused on early-stage deep tech start-ups spinning out of the UK's world-leading academic institutions. About Mercia Ventures Mercia is a proactive, specialist asset manager focused on supporting regional SMEs to achieve their growth aspirations. SOURCE IsomAb

Addition of a low-pro to the Surmodics Pounce™ thrombectomy platform allows for efficient clot removal in peripheral arteries ranging from 2 mm to 4 mm, such as those found below the knee EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Surmodics, Inc. (Nasdaq: SRDX), a leading provider of medical device and in vitro diagnostic technologies, today announced successful early clinical use of the company’s Pounce™ LP (Low Profile) Thrombectomy System. The Pounce LP Thrombectomy System, which received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance in June 2023, is currently in limited market evaluation (LME), with full commercial launch planned following completion of the LME. Surmodics’ Pounce Thrombectomy devices are intended for the non-surgical removal of thrombi and emboli from the peripheral arterial vasculature. The new Pounce LP Thrombectomy System is indicated for use in vessels ranging from 2 mm to 4 mm in diameter, sizes typical of vessels found below the knee. The Pounce LP System complements the original Pounce Thrombectomy System, introduced in 2021, which is indicated for use in vessels 3.5 mm to 6 mm in diameter. Dr. Lucas Ferrer Cardona,* a vascular surgeon with the Dell Seton Medical Center at the University of Texas Hospital in Austin, was the first physician to use the Pounce LP System. “In our first use of the device, the Pounce LP Thrombectomy System performed exceptionally well in helping our team restore blood flow to the foot for a limb-threatened patient,” he said. “Using the device, we promptly removed acute and subacute thrombus from the mid-peroneal artery below the knee with no adjunctive use of thrombolytics and no embolization. Thrombi or emboli in below-the-knee vessels have traditionally been very challenging to remove. I believe this device holds great promise in filling a major gap in our treatment algorithm.” Dr. Elizabeth Genovese, a vascular surgeon at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania who has experience using the original Pounce System, is among several other satisfied early users of the Pounce LP System. She recently deployed the Pounce LP device to revascularize a patient with arterial occlusions in both the anterior tibial and peroneal arteries. “The Pounce LP System allowed me to treat chronic thrombus in these vessels with the effectiveness I’d expect from open surgical Fogarty embolectomy while maintaining the advantages of an endovascular approach for treating underlying and distal disease,” she said. “We were able to achieve an optimal outcome in a very complex lesion, and this type of result would not have been possible without this device.” “We’re very pleased with the successful early clinical use of the Pounce LP Thrombectomy System, which will extend the range of treatment for our Pounce platform to include removal of organized thrombotic or embolic clots from the iliac arteries in the pelvis down to tibial vessels below the knee,” said Gary Maharaj, President and Chief Executive Officer of Surmodics. “Downstream embolization of chronic material into below-the-knee arteries during an endovascular procedure can be an interventionist’s nightmare, sometimes requiring surgical rescue. The Pounce LP System’s ability to capture and remove these unexpected emboli adds yet more value to this device for BTK revascularization.” About the Pounce Thrombectomy Platform The Pounce System is the first mechanical thrombectomy device designed to remove acute-to-chronic thrombi and emboli in occluded peripheral arteries without the need for capital equipment or aspiration and minimizing the use of thrombolytics. Described as a “grab-and-go” solution, the Pounce System is both readily deployable and simple to use. The System is composed of three components: a delivery catheter, a basket wire, and a funnel catheter. The basket wire is delivered distal to the location of the thrombus, deploying two nitinol self-expanding baskets. The baskets capture the clot and are retracted into the nitinol collection funnel. With the clot entrained, the System is withdrawn into a minimum 7 Fr guide sheath through which the clot is removed from the body. The Pounce Thrombectomy platform includes two different-sized devices: the original Pounce™ Thrombectomy System, indicated for use in peripheral arterial vessels 3.5 mm to 6 mm in diameter, and the Pounce LP (Low Profile) Thrombectomy System, indicated for use in peripheral arterial vessels 2 mm to 4 mm in diameter. In a retrospective study 3 of 44 consecutive patients treated for lower extremity limb ischemia with suspected thrombus using the original Pounce System (acute, subacute, and chronic clot), investigators achieved 83% success in effectively removing thrombus from the arterial segments in which the device was used. Adjunctive thrombolysis was used to resolve thrombus at a Pounce System treatment site in just 5.6% (2 of 44) cases. About Surmodics, Inc. Surmodics is a leading provider of performance coating technologies for intravascular medical devices and chemical and biological components for in vitro diagnostic immunoassay tests and microarrays. Surmodics also develops and commercializes highly differentiated vascular intervention medical devices that are designed to address unmet clinical needs and engineered to the most demanding requirements. This key growth strategy leverages the combination of the Company’s expertise in proprietary surface modification and drug-delivery coating technologies, along with its device design, development, and manufacturing capabilities. The Company’s mission is to improve the detection and treatment of disease. Surmodics is headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. For more information, visit . The content of Surmodics’ website is not part of this press release or part of any filings that the company makes with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Safe Harbor for Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements. Statements that are not historical or current facts, including statements regarding what the Pounce LP Thrombectomy System is designed to address, the planned full commercial launch of the product, the promise of the product, and Surmodics’ strategy, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, and important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated, including the results of the limited market evaluation of the Pounce LP Thrombectomy System, adoption of the product, and the factors identified under “Risk Factors” in Part I, Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2023, and updated in our subsequent reports filed with the SEC. These reports are available in the Investors section of our website at and at the SEC website at . Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and we undertake no obligation to update them in light of new information or future events. View source version on businesswire.com: * Consultant for Surmodics Gray BH, Wheibe E, Dicks AB, Low ML, Tingen JS. Pounce Thrombectomy System to Treat Acute and Chronic Peripheral Arterial Occlusions. Ann Vasc Surg. 2023;96:104-114.

Scientists in Cincinnati and Japan identify a population of progenitor cells that strongly promote new blood vessel growth in ischemic limbs at risk of amputation from diabetes and other conditions CINCINNATI, Dec. 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Across the United States, about 2 million people are living with an amputation and another 185,000 amputations occur every year, according to the Amputee Coalition, a Washington, DC-based support group. About 54% of these lost limbs were caused by vascular disease, including diabetes and peripheral arterial disease (PAD). And as more people are diagnosed with diabetes, in the U.S. and worldwide, the number of amputations keeps rising. Continue Reading Graphical abstract illustrates how CD271+ progenitor cells derived from adipose tissue can prompt limb-preserving blood vessel growth. Source: Cincinnati Children's and Cell Reports Medicine. Now, experts at Cincinnati Children's in collaboration with colleagues from Kanazawa University in Japan, have uncovered a new way to prompt blood vessel growth that shows promise as a treatment for preventing ischemia-induced amputations. Their discoveries were based on achieving a deeper understanding about why two patients in a clinical trial in Japan walked away with fully recovered limbs that appeared destined for amputation. The study, published Dec. 19, 2023, and featured as the cover article for the journal Cell Reports Medicine, was led by first author Oto Inoue, MD, PhD, a cardiologist from Japan and a research fellow with Cincinnati Children's, and Juan Sanchez-Gurmaches, PhD, Division of Endocrinology. Their team reports that a specific subset of stem cells isolated from adipose tissue (fat) that also carry the cell surface marker CD271 outperformed all other similar cell types at inducing blood vessel formation. The study also details key molecular mechanisms involved in the process. The scientists confirmed these findings by transplanting this population of human stem cells into mice with limb ischemia. In every case, the treatment rescued limbs that otherwise would have required amputation. Then the team analyzed data from a clinical trial to provide initial evidence that such a cell transplant may have already worked in humans. In this case, people with foot ulcers were treated with a generalized mix of stem cells collected from the patients' own tissues. Of the small number of patients analyzed, the two patients with fully recovered limbs received high numbers of CD271-positive stem cells. Those results in combination with the highly consistent benefits found in the mouse testing, appear to justify further work to launch a formal clinical trial, the co-authors say. "Critical limb ischemia is one of the most severe outcomes for PAD and undertreated diabetes. This research shows hopeful results that this new subset of progenitors may have positive therapeutic value," Inoue says. "It was quite inspiring to see that one of the patients has recovered enough to return to work." A race to address a widespread health problem With rising rates of obesity plaguing the United States, diabetes incidence has been rising for years, and leading to a host of cardiovascular complications, including PAD leading to critical limb ischemia. Doctors treat PAD by using medications to slow the disease while performing bypass surgeries or catheter-based procedures to open clogged arteries in the limbs. However, many of the arteries that need treatment in the limbs are too small and difficult to access with surgery. As a result, at least a third of the people who need revascularization therapy are not eligible for surgical interventions. Those who lose their limbs go on to experience significant pain and disability while their underlying cardiovascular disease makes them increasingly likely to experience potentially fatal heart attacks, strokes, and other problems. Once seen as a purely adult health problem, researchers at Cincinnati Children's and other centers have been finding early signs of vascular disease in teens and even younger children who struggle with severe obesity and diabetes. Emerging alternatives from international collaboration Inoue, 40, has been studying PAD in Japan for more than a decade. He came to Cincinnati in 2021 to further study the emerging area of induced angiogenesis through cellular transplantation as a member of the Sanchez-Gurmaches lab. Many researchers have explored the idea of transplanting progenitor cells to jump-start the body's own tissue-repair capabilities. However, the major limitation has been finding the right cells to use. To solve this, the team used single-cell transcriptomics to hunt through a haystack of different types of progenitor cells to find the right population of cells. While many stem cells reside naturally in the bone marrow, this study found the strongest trigger of blood vessel formation lurking within fat tissue. These cells carry the marker CD271, which has been shown in other studies to play important roles in tissue growth. The team transplanted these human CD271-positive cells into mice to confirm their abilities. The human CD271 cells were 100% effective at prompting enough blood vessel growth in the mice to restore normal blood flow to the diseased limbs. Evidence that this new cell population may work in human disease also was provided. The authors found that among people who received progenitor cells self-transplanted from fat, those who recovered better and saved their limbs had higher numbers of CD271 progenitor cells present. "The positive correlation between recovery and the number of CD271+ progenitors injected in the affected area of these patients was striking," Sanchez-Gurmaches says. Challenges ahead The co-authors emphasize that the findings so far are preliminary. The therapeutic value of adipose tissue CD271-positive cells should be evaluated in larger numbers of patients through a formal clinical trial. One significant issue to resolve is how to obtain enough CD271 progenitor cells to use as treatment. The new paper reports that the number of CD271 progenitors found in the fat of people with insulin resistance can be as much as 75% lower than people without insulin resistance. Also, the cells that are found tend to be less active in generating new vessels. "Unfortunately, the people living with insulin resistance who face elevated risk of limb ischemia are the same people with low numbers of CD271-postive progenitor cells, which could make self-transplantation more difficult," Inoue says. More research is needed to determine if these cells can be multiplied in the lab before transplantation. About the study In addition to Inoue and Sanchez-Gurmaches, Cincinnati Children's co-authors included PhD student Manasi Halurkar, Hee-Woong Lim, PhD, and Vivian Hwa, PhD. Funding sources for this study include the National Institutes of Health (R21OD031907); the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JP16H06828); the Japanese Heart Foundation; the American Heart Association (18CDA34080527), and three grants from Cincinnati Children's (a Trustee Award, a Center for Pediatric Genomics Award and a Center for Mendelian Genomics & Therapeutics Award. SOURCE Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center