PlaqueTec has announced that its BIOPATTERN clinical trial has recruited its 100th patient and expanded to eight NHS specialist cardiac centres.
St Bartholomew’s Hospital (London, UK), and Leeds General Infirmary (Leeds, UK) are now recruiting, with Blackpool Victoria (Blackpool, UK) and Queen Elizabeth Birmingham (Birmingham, UK) set up and ready to start.
BIOPATTERN aims to uncover the patient-specific mechanisms driving coronary artery disease (CAD) and identify novel drug targets for personalised medicines. Recruitment towards the 300-patient target is expected to complete in 2027.
BIOPATTERN uses PlaqueTec’s liquid biopsy system (LBS) to sample blood directly at the site of coronary plaque. Measuring thousands of biomolecules where the disease is happening gives a more accurate, disease-specific picture than systemic samples can provide. These data feed BioCarta, PlaqueTec’s repository of intracoronary proteomic and clinical data, which will help define and diagnose patient sub-groups and new therapeutic targets to guide patient stratification and drug development.
The additional centres join Royal Papworth Hospital (Cambridge, UK); Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (Norwich, UK); Royal Bournemouth Hospital (Bournemouth, UK); and the Bristol Heart Institute (Bristol, UK), extending BIOPATTERN’s network across England.
The trial is run by Papworth Trials Unit Collaboration with PlaqueTec and overseen by a trial steering committee chaired by Peter Libby (Mallinckrodt Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA, and president of the International Atherosclerosis Society).
Stephen Hoole (Royal Papworth Hospital, Cambridge, USA), BIOPATTERN trial chief investigator, commented: “One-size-fits-all treatment for coronary disease leaves many patients carrying significant residual risk. PlaqueTec’s site-of-disease approach aims to reveal the mechanisms underlying disease in individual patients and holds real potential to drive a new generation of precision medicines for atherosclerotic disease.”
Simon Williams, general manager, PlaqueTec, said: “BIOPATTERN aims to close the knowledge gap in CAD and pave the way for precision therapies where unmet need remains high. Passing 100 participants and growing to eight NHS centres is important progress. We’re grateful to our NHS clinical partners and to every patient taking part.”
