April 4, 2016 12:43pm

 

 VCEL drops -$1.87 or -31.01% to $4.16 - I have been steadfast in ranking VCEL a SELL – results are just TOO “foggy”.

 

The stem cell treatment also failed to lead to a significant improvement in heart pumping efficiency or six-minute walking distance, which were among secondary goals of the trial.

 


 

VCEL’s stem cell therapy “helped” reduce deaths and hospitalizations in advanced heart failure patients, according to data from a mid-stage study – which wasn’t totally defined, “potentially” providing a treatment that could delay the need for heart transplants.

 

Detailed results were unveiled on Monday at the American College of Cardiology scientific meeting in Chicago and in the Lancet medical journal.

The data compared bone marrow-derived ixmyelocel-T stem cells with placebo in 109 well-treated patients with advanced ischemic heart failure who had exhausted optimal medical and device therapies.

 

The Bottom Line: The result was primarily driven by the difference in deaths of 13.7% in the placebo group, or 7 deaths, compared with 3.4%, or 2 deaths, for those who received ixmyelocel-T therapy. In addition, 38% of stem cell patients required hospitalization, versus 47% for the placebo group.

After one year, reduction in deaths versus placebo in a composite of adverse events that included death, heart-related hospitalizations and unplanned clinic visits related to heart failure – still, does NOT turn me into a believer.

VCEL drops -$1.87 or -31.01% to $4.16 at the mid-day on Monday. I have been steadfast in ranking VCEL a SELL – results are just TOO “foggy”.