Longeveron Inc. (NASDAQ: LGVN), a clinical stage regenerative
medicine biotechnology company developing cellular therapies for
life-threatening and chronic aging-related conditions, today
announced the publication in Nature Medicine of results from the
CLEAR MIND Phase 2a clinical trial evaluating laromestrocel
(Lomecel-B™) as a potential cellular therapy for mild Alzheimer’s
disease (AD). The article is also available online here. The
International Nonproprietary Names (INN) Expert Committee of the
World Health Organization recently approved “laromestrocel” for the
non-proprietary name of Lomecel-B™.
“This Nature Medicine publication reinforces
laromestrocel’s safety and efficacy as a potential treatment for
mild Alzheimer’s disease and paves the way for more advances in
utilizing cell therapy for Alzheimer’s disease,” said Joshua Hare,
M.D., Founder and Chief Science Officer of Longeveron. “As a
mesenchymal stem cell therapy that has multiple potential
mechanisms of action to address inflammatory responses in the
brain, laromestrocel offers a new potential strategy to address the
underlying pathology of Alzheimer’s disease without the limitations
of previous therapies. Cell based therapy with MSCs is a
particularly attractive treatment candidate as it encompasses
pro-vascular, immunomodulatory, and tissue repair mechanisms of
actions, with findings validated in a murine Alzheimer’s disease
model.”
The randomized, placebo-controlled Phase 2a
CLEAR MIND trial evaluated a total of 48 patients (36 were treated
with laromestrocel (Lomecel-B™) and 12 received placebo) who were
60-85 years old and had a diagnosis of mild AD in accordance with
National Institutes of Health – Alzheimer’s Association (NIA-AA)
criteria, a Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score of 18-24,
and a brain MRI and positron emission tomography (PET) scan
consistent with AD. The clinical trial achieved its primary safety
and secondary efficacy endpoints, and the study results being
accepted for publication in Nature Medicine support the therapeutic
potential of laromestrocel (Lomecel-B™).
Key findings include:
- The trial safety evaluations
supported that laromestrocel (Lomecel-B™) is safe and well
tolerated in the study population, in both single and multiple
dosing regimens, and that patients showed no incidence of
hypersensitivity, infusion-related reactions, and no cases of
amyloid-related imaging abnormalities (ARIA).
- Patients treated with laromestrocel
(Lomecel-B™) showed an overall slowing of disease worsening
compared to placebo.
- Positive efficacy results were
demonstrated via a change from baseline at week 39 of the trial at
prespecified levels using the Composite Alzheimer’s Disease Score
(CADS) – a secondary outcome measure that combines information
across cognitive, functional capacity, and brain MRI domains.
- Administration of laromestrocel
(Lomecel-B™) was associated with slowing cognitive and functional
decline as demonstrated by statistically significant results in the
Montreal Cognitive Assessment and statistical trending improvements
compared to placebo in CDR-SB and MMSE.
- There was a statistically
significant improvement relative to placebo observed in the
Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study Activities of Daily Living
(ADCS-ADL).
- Patients treated with laromestrocel
(Lomecel-B™) showed minimized loss in brain volume in areas
associated with AD (total brain volume, Hippocampus, Temporal and
Frontal lobes, and Thalamus), statistically significant relative to
placebo. Along with positive changes in brain volumes, there was
20-30% reduction in left and right ventricular enlargement,
respectively.
- Diffusion tensor imaging (a form of
MRI) supports the concept that laromestrocel (Lomecel-B™) has the
potential to reduce neuroinflammation compared to placebo.
- Laromestrocel (Lomecel-B™) treated
patients demonstrated a numerical improvement relative to placebo
in quality of life observed by caregivers and measured by the
Alzheimer’s Disease Related Quality of Life (ADRQOL) and Quality of
life AD (QOL-AD) scales.
“Alzheimer’s disease is a disorder of
neurocognition with a major unmet medical need. We believe these
results provide important validation of both the safety and
therapeutic potential of laromestrocel in the treatment of mild
Alzheimer’s disease and suggest, with further clinical evaluation,
that this cellular therapy has the potential to have a positive
impact on patients afflicted with this devastating disease,” said
Nataliya Agafonova, M.D., Chief Medical Officer at Longeveron. “We
look forward to our planned meeting with the FDA in March to review
this data and discuss the future development path for laromestrocel
(Lomecel-B™) in Alzheimer’s disease.”
The FDA has granted laromestrocel (Lomecel-B™)
both Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy (RMAT) designation
and Fast Track designation for the treatment of mild Alzheimer’s
disease, which allow greater access to the FDA during
laromestrocel’s (Lomecel-B™) development for Alzheimer’s
disease.
About laromestrocel
(Lomecel-B™)Laromestrocel is a living cell product made
from specialized cells isolated from the bone marrow of young
healthy adult donors. These specialized cells, known as mesenchymal
stem cells (MSCs), are essential to our endogenous biological
repair mechanism. MSCs have been shown to perform a number of
complex functions in the body, including the formation of new
tissue. They also have been shown to respond to sites of injury or
disease and secrete bioactive factors that are immunomodulatory and
regenerative. We believe that laromestrocel may have multiple
potential mechanisms of action that may lead to anti-inflammatory,
pro-vascular regenerative responses, and therefore may have broad
application for a range of rare and aging related diseases.
About Longeveron
Inc.Longeveron is a clinical stage
biotechnology company developing regenerative medicines to address
unmet medical needs. The Company’s lead investigational product is
laromestrocel (Lomecel-B™), an allogeneic mesenchymal stem cell
(MSC) therapy product isolated from the bone marrow of young,
healthy adult donors. Laromestrocel (Lomecel-B™) has multiple
potential mechanisms of action encompassing pro-vascular,
pro-regenerative, anti-inflammatory, and tissue repair and healing
effects with broad potential applications across a spectrum of
disease areas. Longeveron is currently pursuing three pipeline
indications: hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), Alzheimer’s
disease, and Aging-related Frailty. Laromestrocel (Lomecel-B™)
development programs have received five distinct and important FDA
designations: for the HLHS program - Orphan Drug designation, Fast
Track designation, and Rare Pediatric Disease designation; and, for
the AD program - Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy (RMAT)
designation and Fast Track designation. For more information, visit
www.longeveron.com or follow Longeveron on LinkedIn, X, and
Instagram.
Forward-Looking
StatementsCertain statements in this press release that
are not historical facts are forward-looking statements made
pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which reflect management’s current
expectations, assumptions, and estimates of future operations,
performance and economic conditions, and involve known and unknown
risks, uncertainties, and other important factors that could cause
actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially
from those anticipated, expressed, or implied by the statements
made herein. Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable
by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “anticipate,”
“believe,” “contemplate,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,”
“expects,” “intend,” “looks to,” “may,” “on condition,” “plan,”
“potential,” “predict,” “preliminary,” “project,” “see,” “should,”
“target,” “will,” “would,” or the negative thereof or comparable
terminology, or by discussion of strategy or goals or other future
events, circumstances, or effects and include, but are not limited
to, statements about the various below-listed factors. Factors that
could cause actual results to differ materially from those
expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements in this
release include, but are not limited to, our cash position and need
to raise additional capital, the difficulties we may face in
obtaining access to capital, and the dilutive impact it may have on
our investors; our financial performance, and ability to continue
as a going concern; the period over which we estimate our existing
cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to fund our future
operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements; the
ability of our clinical trials to demonstrate safety and efficacy
of our product candidates, and other positive results; the timing
and focus of our ongoing and future preclinical studies and
clinical trials, and the reporting of data from those studies and
trials; the size of the market opportunity for certain of our
product candidates, including our estimates of the number of
patients who suffer from the diseases we are targeting; our ability
to scale production and commercialize the product candidate for
certain indications; the success of competing therapies that are or
may become available; the beneficial characteristics, safety,
efficacy and therapeutic effects of our product candidates; our
ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approval of our product
candidates in the U.S. and other jurisdictions; our plans relating
to the further development of our product candidates, including
additional disease states or indications we may pursue; our plans
and ability to obtain or protect intellectual property rights,
including extensions of existing patent terms where available and
our ability to avoid infringing the intellectual property rights of
others; the need to hire additional personnel and our ability to
attract and retain such personnel; and our estimates regarding
expenses, future revenue, capital requirements and needs for
additional financing.
Further information relating to factors that may
impact the Company’s results and forward-looking statements are
disclosed in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, including Longeveron’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for
the year ended December 31, 2024, filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission on February 28, 2025, its Quarterly Reports on
Form 10-Q, and its Current Reports on Form 8-K. The Company
operates in highly competitive and rapidly changing environment;
therefore, new factors may arise, and it is not possible for the
Company’s management to predict all such factors that may arise nor
assess the impact of such factors or the extent to which any
individual factor or combination thereof, may cause results to
differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking
statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this press
release are made as of the date of this press release based on
information available as of the date of this press release, are
inherently uncertain, and the Company disclaims any intention or
obligation, other than imposed by law, to update or revise any
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events, or otherwise.
Investor Contact:Derek ColeInvestor Relations
Advisory Solutionsderek.cole@iradvisory.com
Media Contact:Steven WeissRubenstein Public
Relationssweiss@rubensteinpr.com 212.805.3062
Photos accompanying this announcement are available at
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