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BioCardia Announces Clarification and Next Steps on its Autologous CardiAMP Cell Therapy Programs
SUNNYVALE, Calif., Sept. 06, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BioCardia®, Inc. [Nasdaq: BCDA], a developer of cellular and cell-derived therapeutics for the treatment

About this update from Biocardia, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"SUNNYVALE, Calif., Sept. 06, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BioCardia®, Inc. [Nasdaq: BCDA], a developer of cellular and cell-derived therapeutics for the treatment of cardiovascular and pulmonary disease, today announced a clarification and next steps on its autologous CardiAMP cell therapy programs. Based on the recent interim results in the CardiAMP autologous cell therapy for the treatment of heart failure (BCDA-01), the Company is exploring development of a new Phase III clinical trial protocol. The Finkelstein Schoenfeld (FS) primary composite endpoint used in the CardiAMP HF Trial has tiers of outcomes in decreasing order of importance: heart death equivalent, major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular MACCE, and Six Minute Walk Distance (6MWD). Since the primary FS endpoint is a composite of these elements, meeting the FS endpoint may be met even if one or more of the components does not individually demonstrate statistical significance. This has implications for the future trial design. The CardiAMP HF Trial interim results showed that the first two most important tier outcomes, occurring in 30% of the study patients, could have contributed sufficiently toward efficacy given a longer follow-up period than one year. If these interim results are replicated in a future study in which the third tier 6MWD is replaced with a more objective endpoint, there may be a pathway to a successful trial for product registration in the United States. The FDA has previously expressed a preference for replacing the 6MWD with Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing, which is a more objective outcome. We are exploring with the CardiAMP HF Study Executive Steering Committee whether to fine tune eligibility criteria for patients based on current data and to replace the 6MWD with Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing or another other more objective third-tier outcome measurement. Such a protocol may also be capital efficient by eliminating measures that have already been gathered in the ongoing CardiAMP HF study while continuing to utilize the CMS reimbursement program currently in place. Using the cell population analysis screening criterion to set patient dosage, rather than using it to exclude patients from the study, could accelerate enrollment. CardiAMP in Chronic Myocardial Ischemia, or BCDA-02, has a generally accepted mechanism of action of microvascular...