Novel therapy for myocardial ischemic reperfusion injury (IRI)

Almost all heart infarcts of the STEMI sub-type is treated by immediate percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), meaning that the site of occlusion is opened by a balloon and stented to allow unrestricted flow of blood back into the infarct area. The final infarct size after a heart infarct has two origins: In the central part of the infarct, long term lack of oxygen leads to cell death and an inevitable infarct. At the boarder of this zone there is a region where the cells are not dead, but highly stressed and out of equilibrium. Many of the cells in this region dies as a shock response to the sudden re-established flow of blood. This damage to the heart is called ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI) and can account for up to 40% of the final infarct size. Hence, reducing IRI will have a dramatic reduction on the infarct size and quality of life for people affected by heart infarct. We have developed a small molecule drug candidate that allows the infarct area heart for an easy and careful start upon reestablished blood flow. The drug interferes by reducing strong heart contraction induced by adrenaline without interfering with the heart rate (pulse) or basal contractile force. The drug target molecule is only found inside heart cells, which indicates no or very moderate side effects of the drug. The drug has been tested in rats and showed about 30-40% reduction in the infarct size with no apparent side effects. Almost 1 million people worldwide are treated with primary PCI annually. Cost-benefit analysis and market research indicates the peak sales of the drug could reach $1 Billion and increase both lengths and quality of life for patients affected by heart infarct.