Luke Roberts, MBBS, PhD, on Developing Gene Therapy for Congestive Heart Failure

“One in 4 adults is likely to have heart failure at some point in their life. So, there's really an urgent need to develop new therapies and treatments. Because although there are a number of even fairly recently approved medicines for heart failure, the residual risk of heart failure patients is extremely high. For those patients with more advanced symptoms for whom those treatments may no longer be as effective, there are very few additional therapeutic options for those patients.”

Data from a phase 1 trial (NCT05598333) of AB-1002 gene therapy in patients with congestive heart failure look promising, with a manageable safety profile and some improvements in disease measures including New York Heart Association (NYHA) class III functional score, Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction, and quality of life measures.

Data from the trial were presented at the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (ASGCT) 27th Annual Meeting, held May 7 to 10, 2024, in Baltimore, Maryland, by Luke Roberts, MBBS, PhD, Medical Director, Clinical Development, Asklepios BioPharmaceutical.

CGTLive® spoke with Roberts to learn more about the unmet need for patients with congestive heart failure, especially for those with more advanced symptoms of the disease. He discussed AB-1002 and the chimeric vector that differentiates it from other gene therapies and how it may help improve outcomes in patients with congestive heart failure. He gave an overview of the phase 1/2 trial assessing AB-1002 and its progress.

Click here to read more coverage of the 2024 ASGCT Annual Meeting.

REFERENCE

Roberts L, Henry T, Chung E, et al. Safety and Efficacy of AB-1002 Gene Therapy in Patients with Advanced Heart Failure: Results from an Ongoing Phase 1 Clinical Trial. Presented at: ASGCT 27th Annual Meeting, May 7-10; Baltimore, Maryland. Abstract #9