CRO

Recardio puts the brakes on new heart drug trials in U.K. over Brexit concerns

San Francisco-based clinical-stage life science company Recardio is halting clinical trials in the U.K. of a new heart drug due to concerns about Brexit and how new drugs will be approved.

Trials for the drug dutogliptin, which were scheduled to be conducted on patients in Clydebank, Leeds and Exeter, were stopped by the company in an email sent Sept. 17, the BBC reported. Citing sources at the Golden Jubilee National Hospital, the BBC said Recardio based its decision on “uncertainty due to EU withdrawal” and “unresolved” issues with the European Medicines Agency that pose a risk to its business.

Dr. Roman Schenk, Recardio’s founder and president, told the BBC that although he didn’t want to comment about the current political environment in the U.K., he did confirm that concerns about Brexit put the company in a “very difficult situation.”

Recardio is hoping to establish that dutogliptin is safe and effective in helping repair heart tissue after a heart attack in combination with another drug. Dutogliptin is a DPP-IV inhibitor that the company has said has shown significant effects in activating SDF-1, a protein critical for cardiac regeneration.

The U.K. is slated to leave the European Union by late March next year, though terms of the departure remain up in the air.