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Phase I results of the first clinical trial of gene therapy for patients with advanced heart failure show the approach to be promising, with improvements in several measures of the condition's severity.

In Phase I clinical trials, researchers test a new treatment in a small group of people for the first time to evaluate its safety, determine a safe dosage range, and identify side effects.

Patients enrolled in the multicenter CUPID trial (Calcium Up-Regulation by Percutaneous Administration of Gene Therapy in Cardiac Disease) undergo a minimally invasive cardiac catheterization procedure which introduces a specially engineered gene that stimulates production of an enzyme necessary for the heart to pump more efficiently.

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center was the first to offer the therapy in the New York City area. The Hospital is now recruiting patients for the Phase II CUPID trial to further assess safety and effectiveness in patients with advanced heart failure.

Data from the Phase I trial, which was initiated in May of 2007, were presented at the American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Sessions 2008 in New Orleans yesterday. Seven of nine patients who were given the drug showed improvements over six months in several areas: symptomatic (five patients), functional (four patients), biomarker (two patients) and left ventricular function/remodeling (six patients). Two patients with pre-existing antibodies to the viral vector delivery system did not show improvements. Importantly, the approach was shown to have an acceptable safety profile, as determined by an independent safety committee and by the study investigators.

"We are encouraged by these initial findings, which indicate that this therapy has the potential to help patients with advanced heart failure," says Dr. Donna Mancini, the study's principal investigator at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, where she is medical director of cardiac transplantation and is professor of medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.

The Phase II randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial will compare the therapy at two- or three-dose levels with placebo. CUPID is expected to enroll 46 patients with advanced heart failure at 13 U.S. hospitals.

Gene therapy is a technique for correcting defective genes responsible for disease development by inserting genes into a patient's cells and tissues. In most gene therapy studies, a "normal" gene is inserted into the genome to replace an "abnormal" disease-causing gene. A carrier molecule called a vector must be used to deliver the therapeutic gene to the patient's target cells. Currently, one of the most common vectors is a non-pathogenic virus most people have been exposed to in adolescence that has been genetically altered to carry normal human DNA.

More than 5 million people in the U.S. have heart failure. Patients with severe form of the disease have trouble breathing because the heart muscle is not strong enough to pump fluid out of their lungs. Approximately 70 percent die of the disease within 10 years, and the five-year survival rate is less than 50 percent. Heart failure is the only cardiovascular disease whose incidence has been increasing rather than decreasing in recent years.

The multicenter national trial is funded and administered by the Celladon Corporation of La Jolla, Calif. (www.celladon.net). The company has reported that the therapy, called MYDICAR®, has been shown to lead to significant improvements in heart function without significant safety concerns in numerous large-animal models of heart failure.

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, based in New York City, is the nation's largest not-for-profit, non-sectarian hospital, with 2,242 beds. The Hospital has nearly a million patient visits in a year, including more than 220,000 visits to its emergency departments — more than any other area hospital. NewYork-Presbyterian provides state-of-the-art inpatient, ambulatory and preventive care in all areas of medicine at five major centers: NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of NewYork-Presbyterian, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Allen Pavilion and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Westchester Division. One of the largest and most comprehensive health-care institutions in the world, the Hospital is committed to excellence in patient care, research, education and community service. It ranks sixth in U.S.News & World Report's guide to "America's Best Hospitals," ranks first on New York magazine's "Best Hospitals" survey, has the greatest number of physicians listed in New York magazine's "Best Doctors" issue, and is included among Solucient's top 15 major teaching hospitals. The Hospital's mortality rates are among the lowest for heart attack and heart failure in the country, according to a 2007 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) report card. The Hospital has academic affiliations with two of the nation's leading medical colleges: Weill Cornell Medical College and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Columbia University Medical Center

Columbia University Medical Center provides international leadership in basic, pre-clinical and clinical research, in medical and health sciences education, and in patient care. The medical center trains future leaders and includes the dedicated work of many physicians, scientists, public health professionals, dentists, and nurses at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Mailman School of Public Health, the College of Dental Medicine, the School of Nursing, the biomedical departments of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and allied research centers and institutions. Established in 1767, Columbia's College of Physicians and Surgeons was the first institution in the country to grant the M.D. degree and is among the most selective medical schools in the country. Columbia University Medical Center is home to the largest medical research enterprise in New York City and state and one of the largest in the United States. For more information, please visit www.cumc.columbia.edu.