Pioneering new treatment for heart failure
A team based at St Bartholomew’s Hospital is leading the development of a pioneering stem cell treatment that could significantly improve outcomes for patients living with advanced heart failure.
The one-off procedure uses stem cells taken from a patient’s own bone marrow, which are processed in a specialist laboratory and injected via a catheter into the arteries supplying the heart. The cells travel to damaged areas of heart tissue, where they begin to support repair and regeneration within weeks. The treatment offers a minimally invasive alternative to heart transplantation for suitable patients.
Toby Rollason, 64, from Milton Keynes, is among a growing group of patients who have seen significant improvements following the procedure. Before treatment, he was living with end-stage heart failure and had severely limited mobility. He has since returned to work, cycles every day, exercises regularly and is able to enjoy an active life with his family. He said he “felt better almost instantly” following treatment.
While a heart transplant usually takes between 4 to 6 hours, Rollason says that the procedure “only took about half an hour ” and that following the treatment, “the difference was life changing.”
Unlike many other parts of the body, the heart has a limited natural ability to heal after injury. Stem cell therapy offers a potential way to restore function by enabling new, healthy tissue to develop in areas that would otherwise remain permanently damaged.
(Left: Toby Rollason. Middle: Chair of Heart Cells Foundation, Jenifer Rosenberg OBE. Right: Barry Newman, who has also been treated with stem cell therapy.)
The Compassionate Unit based within Britain’s oldest hospital is currently the only centre in the world offering this form of stem cell therapy for heart failure as part of early-phase clinical trials and a compassionate use programme. To date, approximately 500 patients have received the treatment, with clinicians reporting consistently positive outcomes in symptoms and quality of life.
The programme, funded by an independent charity called the Heart Cells Foundation , is now preparing to launch a large-scale phase III clinical trial involving 700 patients. This represents the final stage of evaluation before the treatment can be considered for wider NHS use. Funding of £10 million is being sought to support the trial.
The stem cell procedure currently costs around £12,000 per patient, compared with approximately £300,000 for a heart transplant. If adopted more widely, it could offer both clinical and economic benefits to the NHS, while reducing the need for more invasive surgical interventions.
Speaking to The Times last month, consultant cardiologist Professor Anthony Mathur, who has pioneered the new treatment said:
We continue to be amazed by the feedback we hear from patients and how cell therapy has improved their lives. Initial forecasts suggest that if proven effective in a phase III clinical trial this treatment could not only impact the lives of many heart failure sufferers but also prove cost effective for the NHS.
This phase III study is the final step after 20 years of research. Everything is ready to go, and if we see the positive results we expect, it will open the door to nationwide NHS adoption.
Mathur said the “evidence is compelling” that stem cell therapy could revolutionise outcomes for heart failure.