Bionow

Cardiovascular

The North West has a strong cardiovascular research profile with world class research groups in the region's universities and companies working closely with local NHS teaching hospitals in advancing treatment and management of cardiovascular disease.

The University Of Manchester Cardiovascular Research Group. The group comprises a large number of teams looking at clinical aspects of the causes and management of high blood pressure, diabetes and hypercholesterolaemia. The group also co-ordinates international multi-centre drug trials as well as supervising their own lab based projects.

The University of Liverpool Cardiovascular Research. This group pioneered fabrication techniques for small diameter vascular implants. They are active in a number of research areas including haemodynamics, endovascular repair of aortic aneurysms, haemorheology and tissue engineering of blood vessel substitutes.

Major clinical research groups are located in a number of teaching hospitals:

The Cardiothoracic Centre Liverpool NHS Trust. The Trust has developed as a Centre of Excellence in cardiovascular medicine and is now one of the largest specialist heart and chest hospitals in the United Kingdom serving a population of nearly 3 million people.

Liverpool Heart and Chest Trust is a national and international leader in cardiothoracic care, delivery clinical excellence and a first class patient experience. The Trust provides specialist services across the North West with five areas of clinical expertise that is offered to patients. They are cardiac Surgery, Thoracic Surgery, Cardiology, Respiratory Medicine (including adult cystic fibrosis) and Upper Gastrointestinal Surgery.

The Manchester Heart Centre, Manchester Royal Infirmary. The Centre specialises in cardiothoracic surgery and cardiology. It carries out a range of open heart and other surgical procedures, thoracic surgery, diagnostic angiography and interventional cardiology (angioplasty) plus various testing and imaging procedures. A large part of the cardiology activity includes electrophysiology studies and inserting pacemakers and devices. There are clinical research programmes focusing on the causes and management of heart failure and cardiac dysrythmia.

Medicines Evaluation Unit (MEU). The MEU specialises in performing clinical trials (from Phase I to IV) in respiratory / inflammatory medicine and related areas. With the company's position within hospital premises it has the advantages of specialist equipment and ITU access availability, and is therefore ideally suited to perform early phase exploratory studies.

Wythenshawe Cardiothoracic Centre, South Manchester University Hospitals NHS Trust. This is one of the 5 national heart and lung transplant units in the UK providing diagnostic services, interventional cardiology (angioplasty and electrophysiology), cardiac surgery and thoracic surgery.

Companies with products and research programmes addressing cardiovascular diseases are:

AstraZeneca in Alderley Park, Cheshire. AstraZeneca is a world leader in cardiovascular medicine with a large range of products for hypertension and high cholesterol levels. It has a number of cardiovascular research programmes focused on delivering new and more effective medicines to treat cardiovascular diseases and metabolic risk factors such as Type II diabetes, obesity and metabolic syndromes.

Intellihep develop Heparin based therapeutics with a wide range of applications including inflammation, neurodegeneration, angiogenesis, wound healing, cancer, cardiovascular disorders and infectious diseases.

Provexis in Liverpool, Merseyside develops proprietary bioactives for the functional and medical food industry. The Company is developing products for the prevention and management of cardiovascular disease, obesity and Type II diabetes.

Renovo in Manchester is developing novel pharmaceuticals to prevent vascular scarring or restenosis, a common cause of vascular graft failure occurring after cardiac-by-pass surgery.

Terumo Cardiovascular Systems in Knowsley, Merseyside. Part of the Terumo Corporation of Tokyo, Japan, Terumo Cardio develop and manufacture precision-focused products, such as perfusion circuits, for the specialized needs of the cardiac surgical team with an emphasis on cardiopulmonary bypass and intraoperative monitoring.