Featured Stories

  • The COVID Heart - One Year After SARS-CoV-2 Infection, Patients Have an Array of Increased Cardiovascular Risks

    The COVID Heart - One Year After SARS-CoV-2 Infection, Patients Have an Array of Increased Cardiovascular Risks Published March 2, 2022: JAMA doi: 10.1001/jama.2022.2411

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  • Long-term Cardiovascular Outcomes of COVID-19

    Long-term cardiovascular outcomes of COVID-19 Published Feb. 7, 2022: Nature Medecine  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-022-01689-3  

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  • Understanding Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Outcome Measures

    Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a rare, life-threatening condition characterized by elevated blood pressure in the arteries which carry blood from the heart to the lungs. The high blood...

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  • Calgary-based biotech firm specializes in instructing cells to fight complex diseases

    Imagine a world where a host of diseases and conditions caused by non-beneficial instructions from our DNA could be treated simply by instructing our cells to ignore those signals. That science is...

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  • Health Matters: Alberta-developed drug could help prevent long COVID

    Health Matters February 2: Calgary company Resverlogix has developed a drug that could not only stop COVID-19 illness from progressing, it also has potential to prevent chronic symptoms, or long...

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  • Calgary Company's COVID Drug Going to Phase Two Trials

    Calgary-based biotech company Resverlogix moves into a phase two clinical trial for an oral treatment Apabetalone for COVID-19. And they are looking for patients to participate in the study....

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  • Made-in-Alberta drug being tested on COVID-19 patients

    New drug trial to treat COVID-19 patients has been launched at the University of Alberta. Hiba Kamal-Choufi reports.

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  • 'Exciting breakthrough': COVID-19 drug trial to take place in Edmonton

    Trials for a Canadian-developed COVID-19 treatment are set to begin at the University of Alberta. CTV News Edmonton - Aired January 24, 2022

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  • An Alberta-developed oral treatment for COVID-19 has begun testing at the University of Alberta hospital

    J'lyn Nye interviews RVX President & CEO Donald McCaffrey about our Phase 2b COVID-19 Clinical Trial on 630 CHED

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  • Some COVID-19 patients in Edmonton begin potential trial treatment, apabetalone, an Alberta-developed drug

    By Kellen Taniguchi Edmonton Journal, January 18, 2022  

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  • Epigenetic Therapies Start Operating Outside the Lines

    Drug developers are sourcing novel structures, bridging transcriptional and signaling domains, and exploring applications beyond oncology GEN: Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News...

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  • Resverlogix in Active Discussions with Morocco

    Resverlogix is in active discussions for COVID-19 clinical studies in Morocco involving apabetalone.

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  • Donald McCaffrey at Benzinga All Access

    Resverlogix President & CEO Donald McCaffrey presents at Benzinga All Access conference 2021

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  • Resverlogix: The Future of Drug Development

    Clip of Donald McCaffrey, President & CEO of Resverlogix which aired on Fox News December 18, 2021.   © 2021 www.B-TV.com . All Rights Reserved.  

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  • Apabetalone meets primary endpoint in PAH pilot study

    Resverlogix reported that its lead drug apabetalone met its primary endpoint in a pulmonary arterial hypertension or ‘PAH’ investigator led pilot study. Watch the news...

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  • EVERSANA & Resverlogix Discuss Partnership On PharmaVOICE Webinar

    Rohit Sood, EVP, COMPLETE Commercialization, EVERSANA / Donald McCaffrey, President & CEO, Resverlogix: Next Generation Commercial Innovation: Moving From Promise to Practice. 

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  • Donald McCaffrey featured on Innovators with Jane King

    Donald McCaffrey, President & CEO of Resverlogix featured on Innovators with Jane King. Latest updates on the Company's COVID-19 program.

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  • COVID-19 Program Update with Donald McCaffrey

    CEO Donald McCaffrey joined PBA à Noon, for a live webinar and Q&A, to discuss the latest developments in Resverlogix' COVID-19 program.

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  • Health Canada Authorizes COVID-19 Clinical Study

    Resverlogix receives "No Objection Letter" from Health Canada, approving the COVID-19 Clinical Trial Application for apabetalone.

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  • Apabetalone May Prevent Heart Damage Caused by COVID-19

    COVID-19 affects not only lung and respiratory tissue but can injure your heart as well. One study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that 78% of recently...

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  • Balancing Epigenetics in the Treatment of Chronic Kidney Disease

    Kidneys are the body’s filtration system . They clean our blood, removing waste and helping manage blood pressure by controlling the outflow of water. Unfortunately, when these filters...

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  • Targeting Epigenetics as a New Therapy in Vascular Disease and Dementia

    Cardiovascular disease literally means disease of the heart and blood vessels, but it can cause additional life-altering complications that we might not initially associate with the disease,...

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  • The Faces of Cardiovascular Disease: Series Final

    This is the final article of the mini-series, The Faces of Cardiovascular Disease , looking at the different presentations, symptoms, and root causes of a disease that affects millions of men...

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  • The Faces of Cardiovascular Disease: Part 4

    This article is part of a mini-series, The Faces of Cardiovascular Disease , looking at the different presentations, symptoms, and root causes of a disease that affects millions of men and women...

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  • The Faces of Cardiovascular Disease: Part 3

    This article is part of a mini-series, The Faces of Cardiovascular Disease , looking at the different presentations, symptoms, and root causes of a disease that affects millions of men and women...

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  • The Faces of Cardiovascular Disease: Part 2

    This article is part of a mini-series, The Faces of Cardiovascular Disease , looking at the different presentations, symptoms, and root causes of a disease that affects millions of men and women...

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  • The Faces of Cardiovascular Disease: Part 1

    This article is part of a mini-series we are calling The Faces of Cardiovascular Disease , looking at the different presentations, symptoms, and root causes of a disease that affects millions of...

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  • Apabetalone: A Relative Size Animation

    Our lead compound – apabetalone – is the first small molecule of its kind with potentially important benefits for patients with high-risk cardiovascular and other chronic diseases. But...

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  • Targeting Epigenetics as a New Therapy in Vascular Disease and Dementia

    Cardiovascular disease literally means disease of the heart and blood vessels, but it can cause additional life-altering complications that we might not initially associate with the disease, such as vascular dementia.

    Vascular dementia is a decline in cognitive function resulting from damage to the network of blood vessels that supply oxygenated blood to our brains. In addition, reoccurring “mini strokes” – consequences of weakened vessel walls, leaks and bleeds, clotting, and narrowed arteries – temporarily block blood flow to parts of the brain. Tiny lesions caused by these brief interruptions may initially have little effect on brain function, but with time the damage accumulates and symptoms worsen.

    Vascular Dementia vs. Alzheimer’s Disease

    Vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s disease are the two most common forms of dementia. Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by a build-up of protein-rich amyloid-beta plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in the brain, as well as atrophy – or shrinkage – of brain tissue. Vascular dementia is not associated with disease specific protein accumulation or overall brain shrinkage. Instead, it is commonly characterized by areas of stroke-induced tissue necrosis or cell death. Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia are often found in the same individual.

    brain-clot

    Symptoms of vascular dementia vary, depending on which areas of the brain are affected by the interruption of blood flow. “In contrast to Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia does not always present as memory loss.” says Dr. Jeffrey Cummings, Founding Director of the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Brain Health Center, Las Vegas and a world leading expert in the field of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. “Some patients describe the early stages of vascular dementia as ‘something just not being quite right.’”

    Sensory issues may arise first, such as poor depth perception. For others, issues with speech and language may be most noticeable. Some experience difficulty with planning, anticipating, and judging.  For others still, general confusion, exhaustion, disorientation, frustration, or combinations of all of these cognitive manifestations may be what lead them to consult their doctor. This wide range of symptoms makes diagnosis of vascular dementia difficult, contributing to its under-recognition.

    Limited Treatment Options

    Currently there are no approved treatments for vascular dementia – and Alzheimer’s disease candidates that target plaques and tangles will be ineffective in vascular dementia.

    “Drugs which target plaques and tangles in Alzheimer’s disease have so far failed in clinical trials.  New treatment options with new targets have the potential to be successful in both Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia and need to be tested in clinical trials.” Dr. Cummings says about the current therapeutic landscape. “Targeting factors common to both vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s disease could yield a positive outcome in both areas.”

    A New Approach to Treatment

    One common cause of in Alzheimer’s disease, cardiovascular disease, and vascular dementia is vascular inflammation.  Promising new evidence in Alzheimer’s research suggests that reducing systemic and local vascular inflammation may lead to positive outcomes. It’s also becoming well known that inhibiting vascular inflammation protects the heart and the brain, and lowering the risk of heart attack, stroke, and vascular dementia.

    Inflammation is not the only process involved in injury or blockage of blood vessels. Vascular calcification works to harden arteries; plaques can form within vessel walls, impeding blood flow and delivery of oxygen and nutrients; and coagulation cascades are activated, leading to clot formation.

    Dr. Cummings expressed his excitement about an approach targeting these underlying processes in cardio-vascular related dementia, “It’s very difficult, if not impossible, to treat only the brain in a non-invasive way. It makes logical sense that in diseases that are negatively affecting both the brain and body, we should be treating both. This is especially obvious in vascular dementia, where the cause of cognitive decline often originates from outside of the brain itself.”

    Targeting Epigenetics

    At the cellular level, disease-related factors are regulated by epigenetics – the mechanism by which genes are turned on and off to dictate how our cells function. As disease-causing genes are activated, harmful signals spread and more and more cells are pushed towards a diseased state. In cardiovascular disease and vascular dementia, this means that more processes are working together to damage the blood vessels and worsen patient outcomes.

    “Developing therapeutics which operate on an epigenetic level is like going straight to the source,” says Dr. Cummings, “By a single therapeutic target at the epigenetic level multiple disease processes can be simultaneously improved. We’re dealing with multi-factorial problems, it’s time we start thinking about multi-factorial solutions”

    The ongoing clinical trial, BETonMACE, includes monitoring of cognitive function in a pre-specified subpopulation of at risk patients. Results from these analyses will pave the way for a planned dementia-focused clinical trial.