Theravasc, a Cleveland-based research and development company that focuses on repurposing existing drugs for other uses, has just completed a phase I clinical trial on reversing the effects of peripheral artery disease (PAD) in diabetic patients.

In the past, patients with PAD have had little hope for treatment, let alone a cure -- that is, until Theravasc started researching the effects of a drug traditionally used to treat cyanide poisoning. That drug, called TV1001, showed promise in the trial, which included 12 diabetic patients.

“People with PAD can’t walk and are in pain, and there’s nothing doctors can do,” explains Tony Giordano, Theravasc president and CEO. “This drug causes new blood vessels to grow in that leg, and only that leg. In animal studies it was doing exactly what we wanted it to do.”

The next step is a IIA trial followed by a third trial, to test the effects of giving the drug chronically. Giordano says if all goes well, TV1001 would hit the market in 2015. He thinks about his father-in-law and an 84-year-old Shreveport, LA woman who was ranked #7 on the tennis circuit -- both affected by PAD -- when he thinks about the positive possibilities of the drug.

“I think there’s a high likelihood that we’re going to see success in humans,” Giordano says. “I think this is going to work, and I know this is not going to hurt them. It will give them an opportunity to lead a better life and start walking again. I’m excited about that.”

Source: Tony Giordano
Writer: Karin Connelly