Cellistem®IC is an allogeneic cell therapy based on a subpopulation of proprietary umbilical cord tissue mesenchymal stem cells (UC-MSCs) developed by C4C for the treatment of Chronic Heart Failure. The RIMECARD Clinical Trial paper, which reported results of Cellistem®IC’s safety and efficacy, achieved the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric globally.
Stem Cell Therapy for Heart Failure
6.2
Million of people in the US living with Heart Failure (HF)
70
Billion USD, Annual cost of HF management to the US healthcare system expected by 2030
1/5
Deaths in 2020 in the US were due to HF
“The UC-MSCs used in this trial exhibited superior capacities in vitro and less senescence when compared with BM-MSCs. In patients, Cellistem®IC was associated with significant improvements in left ventricular systolic function at 3, 6, and 12 months, associated with a significant increase in hepatic growth factor expression, known to be involved in myogenesis, cell migration, and immunoregulation. These encouraging results pave the way for a new non-invasive therapy that improves the quality of life of a group of patients who currently face very limited therapeutic options”.
Dr. Fernando Figueroa, Cells for Cells’ co-founder
First double-blind, randomized placebo-controlled trial of intravenous administration of UC-MSCs.
Cell therapy was evaluated in cardiovascular diseases for over a decade without consensus on the optimal cell source or application method. Trials using bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (BM-MSCs) administered through invasive local implantation suggested positive results, indicating that allogeneic cell sources might be superior to autologous MSCs in elders. Umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (UC-MSCs) are of easier access and in vitro expansion and exhibit surpassing angiogenic and paracrine effects compared to BM-MSCs. Still, their systemic administration in human heart failure patients had not been tested. Cells for Cells conducted the first randomized placebo-controlled clinical studies (RIMECARD trial) using UC-MSCs intravenously in patients with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction of both ischemic and nonischemic pathogenesis. The results showed that systemic administration of Cellistem®IC is safe in these patients and pointed to significant improvements in functional capacity, quality of life, and left ventricular ejection fraction. Moreover, this study showed this therapy displayed biological and paracrine advantages and exerted long-term (12 months) clinical effects via intravenous administration. This route of administration simplifies treatment, decreases procedure costs, and allows the exploration of repeated dosages.
