Aastrom Biosciences launching Phase 2 clinical trial

By Nathan Bomey Business news director

Posted on Tue, Nov 10, 2009 : 4:16 p.m.

Ann Arbor-based Aastrom Biosciences is launching another Phase 2 clinical trial to study the effectiveness of its cell treatment for a disease that causes chronic heart failure.

The clinical trial will examine whether Aastrom’s cardiac repair cell technology, delivered through a catheter, can treat dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). The trial will involve 24 patients and comes at the same time the company is conducting a separate Phase 2 trial to study the surgical delivery of the therapy.

The announcement also comes as Aastrom is nearing a leadership transition. Company officials announced in September that Timothy Mayleben, a founding member of the first Esperion Therapeutics, would take over for Aastrom CEO George Dunbar on Dec. 14.

“Given the encouraging initial results in our surgical-based, open-label clinical trial, we are expanding our cardiovascular program to include a catheter-based delivery method for these critically ill patients,” said Elmar R. Burchardt, Aastrom’s vice president of medical affairs, in a news release.

Contact AnnArbor.com’s Nathan Bomey at (734) 623-2587 or nathanbomey@annarbor.com. You can also follow him on Twitter.