Cynata Therapeutics has announced that the Australian Government National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) has awarded a grant of approximately $1 million under the NHMRC 2021 Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Cardiovascular Health Mission, to fund a major preclinical research project to investigate Cynata’s Cymerus mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) as a treatment for ischaemic heart disease (IHD).

The project will be led by Dr Shiang (Max) Lim (Head, Cardiac Regeneration Laboratory, St Vincent's Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne). It will also involve a number of other leading institutions, including the University of Adelaide, Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, the University of South Australia, Duke-National University of Singapore Medical School, the University of Arizona, Monash University, Westmead Institute for Medical Research, and hearts4heart.

Cynata will supply Cymerus MSCs at its cost to facilitate the study.The project is expected to run for a period of two years. It will involve encapsulating Cymerus MSCs in a clinical grade device which can be implanted below the skin (subcutaneously) to allow sustained delivery of the bioactive molecules released by the MSCs. Aims of the project include optimisation of the encapsulation approach, and demonstration of long-term cardiac repair in rat and sheep models of acute myocardial infarction, i.e. heart attack. If successful, it is anticipated that these studies would support progression to human clinical trials.