We are delighted to announce a prestigious grant award from the British Heart Foundation and Marfan Trust to support an important trial in Marfan Syndrome.
Many of you will be aware of the recent research which suggests that a commonly used blood pressure medication called Losartan may have benefit for patients with Marfan syndrome. Research conducted at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in the United States, has demonstrated that in a mouse model of Marfan syndrome, Losartan has a dramatic affect on reverting dilatation and aneurysm formation in the aorta. There is some limited data to suggest that this benefit may extend into humans, and in the United States it is currently being further investigated with a clinical trial. This is clearly a very important area of research, and we are pleased to announce that a similar trial will be undertaken in the United Kingdom.
The trial is known as the Aortic Irbesartan Marfan Study, “The AIMS Study”, and will be conducted in over 20 centres throughout the UK. This trial will investigate Irbesartan, which is from the same family of drugs as Losartan known as angiotensin receptor blockers. It is thought that these drugs may reduce the activity of growth factors which promote the damage in tissues associated with aortic dilatation in Marfan Syndrome. We wish to investigate whether Irbesartan is effective in reducing the rate of dilatation in Marfan Syndrome. If the trial is successful we hope this will offer a potentially very powerful new treatment for patients with Marfan Syndrome.
The trial has been in the planning stages for the past three years, and at times it has very much been an uphill struggle, but we are delighted that we have finally reached the stage when we can get started. Although it is very tempting to simply put all patients with Marfan syndrome on this type of drug now, we believe it is very important for us to demonstrate whether or not it is beneficial and safe before potentially committing patients to life long drug treatment.
