VBS Interventional News
March 26, 2008 – Vascular BioSciences Awarded STTR Matching Grant from the State of North Carolina
January 24, 2008 – Vascular BioSciences Moves Research and Development to North Carolina
December 3, 2003 - VBS announces that Erkki Ruoslahti, MD, PhD, joins its Board of Advisors
Chicago, Illinois, March 28, 2008 – Vascular BioSciences announced today that Abraham Rothman, M.D., will present experimental data on the use of Vascular BioSciencesí endoarterial biopsy catheter in models of pulmonary hypertension, lung transplant rejection, and congenital heart disease at the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions annual scientific sessions at this yearís American College of Cardiology Annual Innovation in Intervention Meeting. Dr. Rothmanís presentation will be given from 3:00 to 4:00 pm at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois on March 30, 2008.
Dr. Rothman, a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Nevada School of Medicine, and a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, will present new techniques to assess pulmonary vascular gene expression, identify novel applications for existing drugs and describe new methods to deliver individualized pharmacogenomics for vascular diseases using endoarterial biopsy.
About Vascular BioSciences
Vascular BioSciences, a diversified biomedical company based in Research Triangle, North Carolina, provides solutions for vascular–based diseases in order to enhance and prolong human life.
Vascular BioSciences makes interventional catheters to obtain endoarterial biopsies, provides diagnostic services, and advances therapies in order to improve outcomes for vascular–based disease patients. More information is available at www.vascularbiosciences.com.
Durham, North Carolina, March 26, 2008 – Vascular BioSciences announced today it has been awarded a $100,000 STTR matching grant under the One North Carolina SBIR/STTR Matching Funds Program. The One North Carolina SBIR/STTR Matching Grant matches a recently awarded NIH Phase 1 STTR grant “Targeting Pulmonary Hypertension with R-Ras.”
David Mann, CEO of Vascular BioSciences commented, “This matching grant from the State of North Carolina will enable our company to expand our innovative product pipeline and to accelerate our commercialization efforts. I’d like to especially acknowledge the assistance and support of Governor Mike Easley, Congressman David Price, State Senator Floyd McKissick, Jr., State Representative Henry Michaux, Jr., the North Carolina Office of Science and Technology, and the North Carolina Department of Commerce.”
About Vascular BioSciences
Vascular BioSciences, a diversified biomedical company based in Research Triangle, North Carolina, provides solutions for vascular–based diseases in order to enhance and prolong human life.
Vascular BioSciences makes interventional catheters to obtain endoarterial biopsies, provides diagnostic services, and advances therapies in order to improve outcomes for vascular–based disease patients. More information is available at www.vascularbiosciences.com.
Durham, North Carolina, January 24, 2008 – Vascular BioSciences announced today that it has opened an office in Research Triangle, North Carolina that will be the principal location of the company’s research and development efforts.
The Research Triangle office will be the headquarters for the company’s interventional, molecular diagnostic, and therapeutic research and development pursuits. The company’s San Diego office will continue to serve as the coordinating facility for West Coast academic and corporate collaborations.
David Mann, CEO and Chairman of Vascular BioSciences, commented, “The Research Triangle area of North Carolina is one of the largest biotechnology hubs in the world and offers numerous opportunities to work closely with many outstanding academic institutions and corporate partners. As research and development is the current principal activity of the company, we look forward to further advancing these efforts through this strategic relocation.”
About Vascular BioSciences
Vascular BioSciences provides solutions for vascular-based diseases in order to enhance and prolong human life.
Vascular BioSciences makes interventional catheters to obtain endoarterial biopsies, provides diagnostic services, and advances therapies in order to improve outcomes for vascular-based disease patients. More information is available at www.vascularbiosciences.com.
San Diego, Calif., February 17, 2006 - Vascular BioSciences (www.vascularbiosciences.com) announces a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the United States Army Institute for Surgical Research (USAISR) to develop diagnostic and therapeutic solutions addressing acute respiratory distress syndrome secondary to battlefield trauma.
The agreement, signed by Vascular BioSciences CEO David Mann and USAISR commander, Colonel John B. Holcomb, M.D., focuses on increasing the in-hospital survival of Department of Defense personnel at risk for developing acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) as a as a result of battlefield trauma.
“This agreement reflects our ongoing efforts to further expand our combat casualty care research, and is consistent with our mission to develop medical solutions for our injured soldiers,” said Colonel John B. Holcomb, commander of the United States Army Institute for Surgical Research.
“We look forward to working with the USAISR to help save the lives of our nation's brave fighting men and women, and are proud to contribute to our country's military medical research efforts,” said David Mann, CEO of Vascular BioSciences. “We look forward to expanding our collaboration with the USAISR to include further initiatives for improving combat casualty care.”
“The pathophysiology of ARDS secondary to battlefield trauma is poorly understood, and therapeutic options are limited,” said Colonel Lee Cancio, M.D., co-principal investigator, recently returned from Iraq and chief of research at the U.S. Army’s Burn Unit. “The survival of injured soldiers could be improved if we could accurately predict and diagnose ARDS in our patients while there is still time for effective counter-measures. The goal of our collaborative research with Vascular BioSciences is to develop therapeutic as well as diagnostic solutions for ARDS.”
ARDS is an enormous problem in civilian as well as military hospitals. According to the non-profit ARDS Foundation (www.ardsusa.org), over 150,000 cases were reported last year in the U.S. resulting in approximately 75,000 deaths. If the other causes of ARDS such as sepsis, severe sepsis, and multi-organ failure syndrome are combined with ARDS, then over 750,000 cases occur annually resulting in 215,000 deaths or 9.3% of annual deaths in the US.
About the United States Army Institute for Surgical Research (USAISR):The U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research (USAISR) is part of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC) and is collocated with Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC). The USAISR is dedicated to both laboratory and clinical trauma research. Its mission is to provide requirements-driven combat casualty care medical solutions and products for injured soldiers from self-aid through definitive care across the full spectrum of military operations; provide state-of-the-art trauma, burn, and critical care to Department of Defense beneficiaries around the world; and provide Burn Special Medical Augmentation Response Teams.
The USAISR has recently supported Operation Iraqi Freedom by deploying surgeons and nurses into theater, training over 1,200 deployed personnel, establishing a semiautomated nationwide daily burn bed availability system, providing logistical support, creating a widely utilized Army Knowledge Online distance learning website, assisting in fielding new hemorrhage control products on the battlefield, and receiving every significant burn casualty from the conflict.
For more information contact:
U.S. Army Institute for Surgical Research
Telephone: (210) 916-3219
3400 Rawley E. Chambers Avenue
Fort Sam Houston, Texas 78234-6315
Web Site: WWW.USAISR.AMEDD.ARMY.MIL
The U.S Government or the USAISR does not directly or indirectly endorse any product or service provided, or to be provided, by Vascular BioSciences, and this press release shall not in any way imply an endorsement of any such product or service.
San Diego, Calif., April 20, 2005 - Vascular BioSciences (www.vascularbiosciences.com) announced today that Erkki Ruoslahti, M.D., Ph.D., a member of Vascular BioSciences’ (www.vascularbiosciences.com) Advisory Board, and co-founder of VBS Pharmaceuticals, has been awarded the 2005 Japan Prize in the category of cell biology. Dr. Ruoslahti shares the 50 million yen prize with Dr. Masatoshi Takeichi, Director of RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe, Japan.
Dr. Ruoslahti was awarded the prize for “Fundamental contributions in elucidating the molecular mechanisms of cell adhesion.” Dr. Ruoslahti is being recognized for his pioneering contributions to the cell adhesion field, which include the discovery and molecular definition of the RGD peptide that interacts with integrin receptor sites during cellular attachment.
The Japan Prize is awarded annually in Tokyo in the presence of the Emperor and Empress of Japan to “people from all parts of the world whose original and outstanding achievements in science and technology are recognized as having advanced the frontiers of knowledge and served the cause of peace and prosperity for mankind.”
“We are delighted to see Erkki receive some of the recognition he deserves” said David Mann, CEO and Chairman of Vascular BioSciences and VBS Pharmaceuticals. “Dr. Ruoslahti’s original approach to scientific research has produced major advances in cell adhesion, vascular targeting peptide technology, drug discovery, nanotechnology, and tumor biology that merit considerable praise. We are proud to work with Dr. Ruoslahti in our collaborations to improve human health.”
For more on the 2005 Japan Prize:
http://www.japanprize.jp
San Diego, Calif., December 3, 2003 - Vascular BioSciences (www.vascularbiosciences.com) announced today that Erkki Ruoslahti, M.D., Ph.D., will join its Board of Advisors.
“We are honored that a physician and scientist of Erkki Ruoslahti’s stature will join our Board of Advisors,” said David Mann, CEO and Chairman of Vascular BioSciences. “Dr. Ruoslahti’s groundbreaking research and scientific expertise in the areas of vascular targeting peptide technology, vascular biology, cell adhesion, and tumor biology will greatly enhance our efforts to improve the diagnosis and treatment of vascular-based diseases. We look forward to working closely with Dr. Ruoslahti to fulfill our shared vision of improving human health.”
Dr. Erkki Ruoslahti is Distinguished Professor at the Burnham Institute in La Jolla, California. He served as the President of the Burnham Institute from 1989 to 2001. He has published more than 400 scientific papers and is the inventor of more than 150 patents. His inventions form the basis of two clinically used drugs as well as several that are under development. He has co-founded several biotech companies and has served as a director or advisory board member of these and other companies. He has been awarded numerous prizes for scientific accomplishment, and was a Nobel fellow at The Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. Dr. Ruoslahti is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine.
“I am very pleased to join Vascular BioSciences because of its continuing commitment to develop innovative technologies for diseases of the vasculature,” said Dr. Ruoslahti, “I am intrigued by the possibilities of the new endoarterial biopsy catheter developed by Vascular BioSciences and look forward to collaborating with the company in the development of new applications for this technology.”
San Diego, Calif., April 15, 2003 - Vascular BioSciences (www.vascularbiosciences.com) announces the publication of a new method to detect lung transplant rejection using the company’s endoarterial biopsy catheter in the current issue of Transplantation, the official journal of the transplantation society.
The paper, “Increased Expression of Endoarterial Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 mRNA in an Experimental Model of Lung Transplant Rejection: Diagnosis By Pulmonary Arterial Biopsy” in Transplantation 2003; 75(7):960-965, was the result of a collaboration between Vascular BioSciences and physicians at the University of California, San Diego. The paper describes how the endoarterial biopsy catheter safely and effectively obtained endoarterial biopsy samples from branch pulmonary arteries in an animal model of lung transplant rejection. VCAM-1 mRNA levels in pulmonary vascular tissue samples obtained with the endoarterial biopsy catheter increased with increasing levels of lung transplant rejection. According to the study, in patients who undergo lung transplantation, the endoarterial biopsy method may be useful in the diagnosis of rejection and infection. Endoarterial biopsies may also aid in detecting early vascular changes associated with bronchiolitis obliterans (chronic lung transplant rejection).
Abraham Rothman, M.D., Co-director of Cardiology at Children’s Hospital San Diego, Professor of Pediatrics at University of California, San Diego, and lead author of the paper stated, “Although the endoarterial biopsy procedure was safe and effective in animals, the procedure has not yet been evaluated in humans. However, extensive experimental experience suggests that the procedure should have similar results in human patients.”
To download a PDF copy of our research on lung transplant rejection detection with the endoarterial biopsy catheter published in Transplantation, please click here:
Increased Expression of Endoarterial Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 mRNA in an Experimental Model of Lung Transplant Rejection: Diagnosis by Pulmonary Arterial Biopsy by A. Rothman, D. Mann et. al. Transplantation. Vol. 75, No. 7. April 15, 2003. (Full Text-648k download)
