Rock Creek Pharmaceuticals Inc. (fka RCPIQ)

[Buddhahead]

"Injected microparticles shown to greatly reduce heart attack damage"

Article at:
http://www.gizmag.com/microparticles-heart-attack-inflammation/30506/?utm_source=Gizmag+Subscribers&utm_campaign=c1c63f836f-UA-2235360-4&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-c1c63f836f-76708937

Excerpt:
"When injected into the bloodstream within 24 hours of a heart attack, the negatively-charged microparticles attract the positively-charged monocytes, as they're on their way to the heart. When one of the monocytes bonds to a particle, a signal within the cell is triggered, telling it that it's dying. This causes it to change course and head for the spleen, the organ that disposes of dead cells.

As a result, inflammation of the heart is minimized. In animal models, this caused a 50 percent reduction in the size of heart lesions.

Lab tests have indicated that the microparticles could be also used to treat a number of other inflammatory diseases, such as West Nile virus, colitis, inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis, and peritonitis.

The particles are now being commercially developed by biotech start-up Cour Pharmaceutical Development Company, with clinical trials on heart attack victims hoped to begin with two years. A paper on the research was published this week in the journal Science Translational Medicine."