AMCARE
Advanced Materials for Cardiac Regeneration (AMCARE) is an international consortium of industry and academic partners with expertise in materials science and stem cell biology supported by the EU grant nr. 604531. The aim of the project is to develop innovative biomaterials to help treat patients following a heart attack (myocardial infarction).
Around 17 million people die from heart attacks each year. Although it’s possible to fully restore blood flow, patients are often left with scarring on the heart, which raises their risk of future heart failure. AMCARE aims to develop new biomaterials to deliver stem cells and growth factors to the heart tissue where they can heal the scar tissue.
In this study, we developed a novel, single-stage concept to support the weakened myocardial region post-MI by applying an elastic, biodegradable patch (SPREADS) via a minimal-invasive, closed chest intervention to the epicardial heart surface. We show a significant increase in %LVEF 14 days post-treatment (p ≤ 0.001).
Unmatched Survival Rate
To aid the AMCARE project, Explora developed an ischemia/reperfusion swine model through minimally-invasive percutaneous femoral access. The model ensures an unmatched post-infarct survival rate >90% and superior reproducibility of the scar site and area that allow a significant reduction in sample size.
A Novel Catheter
Explora’s team also supported the development and refinement of a novel catheter specifically designed to overcomes translational hurdles associated with delivering fast-gelling covalently cross-linked hyaluronic acid hydrogels to the myocardium.
