Mesoblast Limited (ASX: MSB) is into innovation of cellular medicines. It develops off the shelf cellular drugs. It has a diversified portfolio of cell-based and most clinically advanced products. The company has its technology platform of mesenchymal lineage adult stem cells.
The company has recently announced that it has completed the recruitment of patients for the third phase trial of its product Revascor, for advanced chronic heart failure. Following this announcement, the share price of the company increased by 4.183% on January 07, 2019.
The Chief Executive of the company, Dr. Silviu Itescu, stated the completion of recruitment in the third phase trial is a key achievement of the company which has been achieved as per the plan. It is the largest cell therapy trial for heart failure. This is a significant development of the company’s objective to establish an effective therapy for many patients with progressive heart failure. This progress will equally enhance the commercial opportunity for the company.
This trial is mainly to assess whether Revascor reduces repeated non-fatal heart failure and other related major adverse cardiac events and whether it can prevent or slow down the terminal cardiac events such as cardiovascular death, heart transplant or placement of the artificial device, for a minimum period of twelve months. In the second phase of the trial, a single dose of Revascor prevented any terminal cardiac events or even hospitalization events over three years in a similar group of patients.
The Phase 3 trial has approximately 570 patients across 55 centers in North America. This enrolment target was mainly driven by the result of the second phase trial. There was a reduction in event rate in the phase two trial and supported by the successful outcome of a pre-specified interim analysis of the third phase trial performed after the first 270 patients were enrolled. As per the consensus of New York Heart Association, there are over 8 million patients with heart failure in the United States, and with 15-20% among them progressing towards advanced heart failure due to resistance to the current medicines. These patients represent a significant section whose medical needs are yet to be fulfilled due to their high rates of heart disease events and mortality.
The co-principal investigator of the trial, Dr. Emerson Perin, Medical Director of Texas Heart Institute and Director of its Stem Cell Centre said that they are very pleased to complete the recruitment in this important trial of cellular therapy for advanced heart failure patients who do not have many alternatives. If the third phase trial is successful, this will transform cardiovascular care and would provide a powerful new treatment for advanced heart failure.
Now, let us quickly look at the performance of Mesoblast’s stock and the return it has posted over the last few months. The stock is currently trading at $1.370 with the market capitalisation of circa $654.04 Mn as of January 07, 2019 (AEST 1:43 PM). The stock posted a YTD return of 13.36% and produced a negative return of 13.77% over the last six months period, with a 52-week high price of $2.470 and a 52-week low price of $1.015.
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