Blood diamond: Milestone for Closed Loop Medicine in hypertension trial – Business Weekly

Closed Loop Medicine has recruited its first patient into a novel PhIV precision medicine interventional clinical trial for patients with high blood pressure.

The UK clinical stage therapeutics company is developing drug + digital combination products.

The new clinical trial tagged Personal COVID BP will see up to 1,000 patients recruited for a study investigating whether a combination product that links a drug to a smart phone app can enable patients to personalise and optimise their therapy regimen to treat hypertension.

Crucially the technology in the study allows patients shielding from COVID-19 to control their blood pressure remotely in a home setting environment.

The interventional arm of the study, in which up to 200 patients are involved, will see patients receive drug therapy while using an app to monitor blood pressure, as well as any potential side effects.This will help to determine whether the approach can be used to identify the optimum balance of tolerable side effects and controlled blood pressure.

The ultimate aim of the study is the development of a novel combination product that will have the potential to save thousands of lives through fewer heart attacks and strokes.

As part of the study, CLMs technology will also be used to monitor COVID-19 symptoms to allow for a better understanding of the links between the virus and high blood pressure.

A Nature publication published in May analysed 17 million medical records to show a complex link between COVID-19 mortality and patients with high blood pressure.

The trial is part-funded by Innovate UK and is being run by the William Harvey Clinical Research Centre (WHCRC), Queen Mary University of London, part of the National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre at Barts.

Closed Loop Medicines registered office is at Babraham and its roots are very much in Cambridge. Chair is serial investor Dr Andy Richards and the business was seed-funded by Cambridge Angels.

Dr Hakim Yadi, CEO & co-founder of CLM said: This represents a key milestone for the company with the first patient enrolled and dosed in our interventional clinical study.

Our aim is to improve patient outcomes while supporting health systems to better manage patients with long-term conditions through remote monitoring and timely intervention.

The trial design allows greater patient participation from the comfort and safety of their own home whilst also investigating the potential link between COVID-19 and hypertension.

We look forward to progressing this important trial alongside our partners at Queen Mary University, and to reporting further progress over the coming months.

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Blood diamond: Milestone for Closed Loop Medicine in hypertension trial - Business Weekly