Miami, Florida—September 9th, 2021— Longeveron Inc. (NASDAQ:LGVN) ("Longeveron" or "Company"),   a clinical stage biotechnology company developing cellular therapies for chronic aging-related and life-threatening conditions, today announced the final clinical results from its Phase I clinical study of Lomecel-B in Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS), a rare and life-threatening congenital heart disease.  Lomecel-B is an allogeneic, bone marrow-derived medicinal signaling cell (MSC) therapy product manufactured under current good manufacturing practice (cGMP) in Longeveron’s cell processing facility in Miami.

The Phase I, open-label single arm study was designed to assess safety and tolerability of intramyocardial injection of Lomecel-B administered to 10 infants with HLHS during Stage 2 bidirectional cavopulmonary anastomosis (BDCPA, or “Glenn procedure”) surgeries.  HLHS is a rare congenital heart defect that affects approximately 1,000 babies per year in the U.S.  Babies with HLHS are born with an underdeveloped left ventricle, which impairs the heart’s ability to pump blood throughout the body.  HLHS is fatal without surgical intervention, in which 3 surgical procedures must be performed to allow the right ventricle to be configured to pump blood to the body.  Even with this surgery, HLHS is still associated with a very high mortality rate and need for heart transplantation.   The trial was partially funded by a grant from the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund (MSCRF). 

The primary safety endpoint was the incidence of the following treatment-emergent Serious Adverse Events (TE-SAEs): i) major adverse cardiac events (MACE), including sustained/symptomatic ventricular tachycardia requiring intervention with inotropic support, aggravation of heart failure, myocardial infarction, unplanned cardiovascular operation for cardiac tamponade, and death through one-year post-treatment; and ii) infections during the first month post-treatment.   Intramyocardial injection of Lomecel-B at 2.5 × 106 cells/kg of body weight was well-tolerated, with no MACE, and no infections reported that were considered to be related to investigational treatment.

• 100% of infants treated were alive and transplant-free one-year after injection.  Patients have now been followed for two-to-3.5 years and remain alive and transplant free.  This exceeds historical control results, which estimate only 78% survival free of transplantation following the Glenn procedure. (1)
• Heart function and structure, including tricuspid regurgitation fraction (the fraction of blood going backwards in the right ventricle), right ventricle ejection fraction (RVEF), RV volume and chamber size did not change significantly from baseline at six and 12 months after Lomecel-B injection.
• The children’s growth matched trends in published literature, suggesting normal development of the children. (2)
• Through one-year follow-up, one patient had an ascending aortic obstruction requiring angioplasty, and four other patients required re-hospitalization, none considered related to Lomecel-B injection.

“We are gratified by the very promising finding in this study that 100% of the participating children had a two to four year transplant-free survival which compares very favorably to published mortality rates of up to 22% in HLHS patients after the Glenn procedure,” said Dr. Sunjay Kaushal, Principal Investigator of the study.  “We are highly motivated to continue our studies of Lomecel-B cell therapy for children with HLHS.  If we determine in the future that Lomecel-B reduces the need for heart transplantation in these children, this will represent a major advance in the field, and have a substantial impact on these infants and their families.”

“HLHS is a rare but life-threatening, congenital heart defect for which we currently have limited treatment options and poor outcomes. We are delighted to have been able to support this clinical trial in Maryland and advance this important work with Dr. Sunjay Kaushal and Longeveron”, said Dr. Amritha Jaishankar, Executive Director of the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund. “We are committed to Accelerating Cures, and hope that the results from the HLHS Lomecel-B cell therapy study that our grant helped fund will bring us one step closer to helping these babies and their families."

Longeveron is pleased that its research program has advanced into a blinded, controlled trial that is evaluating safety and effectiveness of Lomecel-B as an intervention for HLHS.  In this regard, the HLHS program has transitioned into a Phase 2 trial titled:  Evaluation of Lomecel-B™ Injection in Patients with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome:  A Phase IIb Clinical Trial. (ELPIS II)  ELPIS II is being funded by a grant from the National Institute of Health’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI; Grant number 1UG3HL148318), in collaboration with Longeveron, and is led by Principal Investigator Sunjay Kaushal, MD, PhD, Division Head, Cardiovascular-Thoracic Surgery, Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. With a target enrollment of 38 infants, the trial began enrollment in July, 2021, and it is anticipated that up to seven children’s hospitals will be participating, all in major metropolitan centers located throughout the U.S.  For more information regarding the trial design and location of clinical sites please visit www.clinicaltrial.gov (NCT04925024), and www.elpistrial.org hosted by the University of Texas Health Sciences Center which serves as the data coordinating center. 

Longeveron is a clinical stage biotechnology company developing cellular therapies for specific aging-related and life-threatening conditions. The Company’s lead investigational product is the LOMECEL-B™ cell-based therapy product (“Lomecel-B”), which is derived from culture-expanded medicinal signaling cells (MSCs) that are sourced from bone marrow of young, healthy adult donors. Longeveron believes that by using the same cells that promote tissue repair, organ maintenance, and immune system function, it can develop safe and effective therapies for some of the most difficult disorders associated with the aging process and other medical disorders. Longeveron is currently sponsoring Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials in the following indications: Aging Frailty, Alzheimer’s disease, the Metabolic Syndrome, Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), and hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS). The Company’s mission is to advance Lomecel-B and other cell-based product candidates into pivotal Phase 3 trials, with the goal of achieving regulatory approvals, subsequent commercialization and broad use by the healthcare community. Additional information about the Company is available at www.longeveron.com.

1. Son JS, James A, Fan C-PS, Mertens L, McCrindle BW, Manlhiot C, Friedberg MK. Prognostic value of serial echocardiography in hypoplastic left heart syndrome. Circulation: Cardiovascular Imaging. 2018; 11(7):e006983.
2. Burch, P. T., E. Gerstenberger, C. Ravishankar, D. A. Hehir, R. R. Davies, S. D. Colan, L. A. Sleeper, et al. 2014. “Longitudinal Assessment of Growth in Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome: Results From the Single Ventricle Reconstruction Trial.” Journal of the American Heart Association: Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Disease.  doi:10.1161/JAHA.114.000079.

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