Inhibit cell death to save the myocardium and the patient's life during a heart attack
Created in September 2023 in Montpellier, ApoRepair capitalizes on a family of patents from the CNRS in Montpellier. It offers treatment against ischemia-reperfusion injury in myocardial infarction.
The company is Winner of Invest in Biomed 2023, the annual healthtech meeting in the South of France initiated by EuroBiomed, the health competitiveness cluster for the South and Occitanie regions.
Parmi les maladies cardiovasculaires, l’infarctus aigu du myocarde (IDM) représente la première cause de mortalité mondiale avec un cas toutes les 45 secondes en Europe. La prise en charge d’un patient ayant un IDM consiste à rouvrir l’artère occluse le plus rapidement possible selon les recommandations internationales de cardiologie. Cependant, des effets secondaires indésirables accompagnent ce geste, induisant des lésions spécifiques appelées lésions de reperfusion qui fragilisent le tissu cardiaque ischémique. Aucun traitement ne permet d’inhiber les effets indésirables de la reperfusion du muscle cardiaque, générant la mort cellulaire, et minimisant les effets bénéfiques sur la taille d’infarctus et la survie du patient. Malgré cette prise en charge indispensable pour sauver le patient, 10-30% des patients décèdent immédiatement ou la première année post-infarctus et 25-50% des survivants développent une insuffisance cardiaque générant des coûts sociétaux additionnels.
ApoRepair is developing therapeutic peptides capable of reducing the size of the infarct (50% in the mouse model) when administered at the time of reopening of the coronary artery (reperfusion). This treatment protects the heart in the long term as shown in mice at 6 months (equivalent to 22 years in humans). The mechanism of action has been fully described by studying cell death and survival pathways. These cardioprotective peptides can be administered in addition to reperfusion therapy, to any patient presenting an acute phase of MI, to reduce the size of the infarct, the morbidity and mortality rates and the associated societal costs.
WALK
The myocardial infarction market represents 9.14 million cases/year worldwide in 2019, including 1.8 million cases/year in the US and 120,000 cases/year in France, with a growing market trend due to the diabetes/obesity epidemic, COVID-19 and an aging population. The myocardial infarction treatment market is valued at $1,524.5 Mn in 2020 and is expected to reach $2,353.5 Mn in 2027 with a CAGR of 6.4% over the forecast period. Other indications such as stroke or organ transplantation are also considered.
ApoRepair has around ten employees.