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Commercialization: Arteriocyte, Inc.

The Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine completed its first business spin-out during January 2004. Arteriocyte, Inc., is an early-stage company developing proprietary stem cell based therapies to grow new blood vessels for patients with a variety of vascular diseases.

Arteriocyte was founded by Mary Laughlin and Vincent Pompili, members of the Case Western University School of Medicine (CWRU) faculty and clinicians at University Hospitals Case Medical Center(UHCMC), with the assistance of Case's Technology Transfer Office. The company is based on technologies developed by the founders and Steven Haynesworth, associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Case.

The Arteriocyte technology enables the growth of new blood vessels by combining multiple stem cell types in a unique way and then infusing those stem cell types into damaged tissues. This technology offers distinct advantages over other methods that attempt to grow new blood vessels to replace damaged ones, and has the potential to augment conventional therapies such as artery bypass grafting and angioplasty.

Other approaches have used single blood cell types or crude, multiple cell type preparations without achieving the necessary level of blood vessel formation needed in the target tissue. The unique combination of blood cell types has shown encouraging results in yet unpublished animal studies.

Blocked or damaged blood vessels are a major cause of illness and death around the world. Atherosclerosis, for example, can lead to congestive heart failure and heart attacks. More than 10 percent of the U.S. population over the age of 65 is diagnosed with congestive heart failure each year.

Existing therapies include drugs, gene therapy, and vascular interventions for relief of arterial obstructions. In 2003, approximately 750,000 coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgeries were performed worldwide and approximately 1.8 million balloon angioplasty procedures were performed. While these interventional therapies are now the standard of care, there are still a significant number of people for whom these methods do not work, or who have blockage throughout their bodies.

Arteriocyte will initially target patients for whom the current treatments are marginally effective, such as diabetic patients who have higher rates of restenosis (re-closing of the arteries) and bypass graft failure. This at-risk population includes 30 percent of the approximately $26 billion US market for angioplasty and CABG procedures. Importantly, the novel Arteriocyte therapy is expected to improve outcomes and thereby provide significant cost reduction over a patient's lifetime for significant segments beyond the initial target population.

Stanton Gerson, director of the Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine said, "Arteriocyte represents an important milestone for Cleveland. This innovative technology will use stem cells initially to regenerate diseased blood vessels of the heart. In time, other targets will include peripheral vascular disease that disables people with diabetes and sickle cell anemia, and other stem cell therapeutics of all kinds. The Center promised the citizens of Ohio that it would develop new technology and commercialize it. Arteriocyte represents the first installment on that promise."

"Arteriocyte has all the components of an ideal, university-launched startup: world-class researchers, exciting technology, a large, growing market, and a solid team," said Joseph Jankowski, assistant vice president for biomedical sciences at Case. "The launch of this company represents the end product of a strong collaboration between multiple departments and programs at Case, University Hospitals and BioEnterprise. We are excited that the company may become a major player in this important field."

For more information on Arteriocyte, Inc. please contact Don Brown at 216.658.3999 or dbrown@arteriocyte.com.