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- Cynata has been awarded an Innovation Connections grant to advance its heart disease treatment therapies
- The $50,000 grant will be used to support the continuing research at the University of Sydney
- Next steps will include the safety and efficacy of the therapy in a living organism
- Cynata’s share price is up 7.50 per cent with shares trading for $1.29 apiece
Cynata Therapeutics has been awarded an Innovation Connections grant to advance the development of its therapies in treating CAD.
CAD (coronary artery disease) is the narrowing or blockage of arteries in the heart and is the cause of the majority of heart attacks and one-third of all deaths in people aged over 35.
The Innovations Connections grant will consist of $50,000 and is supported by The Australian Government’s Department of Industry Innovation and Science. Cynata will match this price dollar for dollar.
The funds will be used to support the continuation of research at UNSW Sydney, under the leadership of Associate Professor Kristopher Kilian.
“We are very pleased to receive this non-dilutive funding, which enables us to further our research into the development of customised MSCs that address CAD before a heart attack occurs,” Chief Operating Officer Dr Kilian Kelly said.
“Associate Professor Kristopher Kilian and his team have already demonstrated the potential value of this approach, and we now look forward to generating further data in support of a future clinical trial,” he added.
This research will lead on from a collaborative project, which began in 2018, with the initial project identifying optimal cell culture matrices (the material on which the cells are grown).
The prime Cymerus mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) then produce factors that restore the growth of new blood vessels (angiogenesis).
These positive effects were demonstrated in an established in-vitro (outside of a living organism) assay and were maintained after the cells were frozen and then thawed. This is significant in the commercialisation perspective.
The new project, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2020, seeks to build on previous findings on the factors released from the MSCs and establish the ability of primed cells to promote new blood vessel formation in-vivo.
This will be followed by in-vivo (inside of a living organism) safety and efficacy in a preclinical model.
Cynata’s share price is up 7.50 per cent today with shares trading for $1.29 apiece at 2:45 pm AEDT.
