The Spanish company Genetrix has begun testing on a type of cell therapy for myocardial infarctions. If this treatment, called AlloCSC-01, is successful, it will be marketed as a drug to be prescribed by cardiologists.

What seemed like science fiction until now may soon be in hospitals. And in this case it’s being brought by the Spanish company Genetrix which has begun clinical testing on cell therapy for myocardial infarction.

This Spanish firm has been able to get this cell therapy considered as a drug, which could become a significant source of revenues. Although a technique already exists in order to implant the cells from a patient himself (referred to as autologous), Genetrix has been able to reproduce in the laboratory cardiac stem cells from donors (allogeneic) in order to market them to hospitals. This therapy represents the starting point for large-scale cellular treatment around the world.

If successful, treatment AlloCSC-01 will be marketed as a drug to be prescribed by cardiologists.

The cells are kept in a container in a hospital’s pharmacy. When a heart attack patient arrives, on the third day after the event the cells are deposited in the bloodstream using a catheter in the same area where a stent has been implanted. The procedure is very simple.

For now, testing on animals has shown the treatment to be anti-inflammatory and capable of generating an immune response. The damaged tissue of the heart which had previously ceased to function is shown to have recovered thanks to the work of the stem cells.

Genetrix participated in a cellular treatment to regenerate cartilage that is now marketed in Europe, ChondroCelect, through its Cellerix division. This affiliate of the company later merged with Belgium’s TiGenix.

The Genetrix group has since reduced its position in TiGenix, using this capital largely to fund development of the drug AlloCSC-01 to treat myocardial infarctions.