Cell medicines company Mesoblast (ASX:MSB) has announced the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics has published a paper on the first two children treated with its mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC) product candidate remestemcel-L.
The children were treated for multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) associated with COVID-19.
The manuscript - ‘Remestemcel-L Therapy for COVID-19-Associated Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children' - was based on two children admitted to the Medical University of South Carolina’s MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital. They were the first to be treated with remestemcel-L for MIS-C.
Its authors include Allison Ross Eckard, MD, Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine and Division Chief of Infectious Diseases and Dr Andrew M. Atz, Professor and Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at the Medical University of South Carolina.
MIS-C, which is a potentially life-threatening inflammatory condition that involves multiple critical organs and their vasculature, is associated with prior rather than active COVID-19 infection. It is thought to be a post-viral autoimmune process where the body’s over-zealous reaction to the virus causes the damage, rather than the virus itself.
In approximately 50 per cent of cases, this inflammation is associated with significant cardiovascular complications resulting in decreased heart function and the presence of clinically important cardiovascular symptoms.
The two patients detailed in the paper were previously exposed to COVID-19 infection and later developed MIS-C.
Mesoblast said despite receiving standard of care for MIS-C, the patients continued to display severe heart failure and significantly elevated inflammatory biomarkers.
It said when treated with two intravenous doses of remestemcel-L separated by 48 hours, they showed the normalisation of left ventricular ejection fraction, notable reductions in biomarkers of systemic and cardiac inflammation, as well as improved clinical status occurred. There were no safety signals associated with the remestemcel-L treatment and both patients were subsequently discharged from hospital.