NIH grants to support clinical trials for cardiology patients
Two VCU faculty members — Benjamin Van Tassell of the School of Pharmacy and Antonio Abbate of the School of Medicine — have received two new R34 grants, effective July 1, from the National Institute of Health’s National Health, Lung and Blood Institute.
Abbate and Van Tassell will work as co-principal investigators on two clinical trials with the goal of identifying new anti-inflammatory therapies for heart patients: “Interleukin-1 Blockade in Acute Myocardial Infarction” ($660,000 over three years) and “Interleukin-1 Blockade in Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction” ($660,000 over two years).
The first grant will support a multi-center clinical trial to evaluate the effectiveness of targeted anti-inflammatory therapy in 100 patients with a severe form of heart attack (ST-elevation myocardial infarction). Previous studies by Van Tassell and Abbate have shown that this approach may reduce the risk of heart failure after a heart attack.
The second grant will fund a single-center clinical trial to evaluate a similar regimen in 60 patients who have heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, also known as diastolic heart failure. Approximately half of all heart failure patients show normal (or preserved) ejection fraction, which refers to how much blood the heart is able to pump with each contraction. While numerous medications are approved for the treatment of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, there are no approved treatments for heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.
A separate R34 grant was awarded to Abbate and Van Tassell last August to explore IL-1 blockade in a separate population of heart failure patients. R34, the NIH Clinical Trial Planning Grant Program, supports development of Phase III clinical trials.
Over the last six years, Abbate and Van Tassell have collaborated on numerous basic science and clinical trials sponsored by the American Heart Association, National Institutes of Health and the pharmaceutical industry that explore the link between inflammation and heart disease. Van Tassell is an assistant and research professor in the School of Pharmacy’s Department of Pharmacotherapy and Outcomes Science. Abbate holds the James C. Roberts, Esq. Professorship in cardiology with the School of Medicine’s Department of Internal Medicine and the Pauley Heart Center.
Since 2008, Van Tassell and Abbate have received a total of more than $3 million in funding and have published more than 40 papers.
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