Dr. Lawson to Present ISET Lecture on Humacyte's Bioengineered Blood Vessel Replacement

January 26, 2015—Humacyte, Inc., announced that Jeffrey H. Lawson, MD, who serves as a clinical consultant for the company, is a keynote speaker at ISET 2015: the 27th International Symposium on Endovascular Therapy, which will be held January 31 to February 4 in Hollywood, Florida. Dr. Lawson collaborated with the company on preclinical and clinical studies, and is a principal investigator for Humacyte’s clinical study of the company’s off-the-shelf human bioengineered blood vessel replacement product in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD).

The lecture is titled “Bioengineering and the Potential to Create New Blood Vessels” and will be presented at 8:00 am on February 2. Dr. Lawson will discuss early-stage development and clinical testing of Humacyte’s product that is being developed for key applications in regenerative medicine and vascular surgery. Dr. Lawson will also present a session titled “Future Procedures in Vascular Therapy” at 5:30 pm on February 3.

Dr. Lawson is Vice Chair for Research and Professor of Surgery and Pathology at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, as well as Director of the Vascular Research Laboratory and Director of Clinical Trials for the Department of Surgery.

In the company’s press release, Dr. Lawson stated, “More than 400,000 hemodialysis patients with end-stage renal disease suffer from yearly surgical procedures having to do with graft complications. Through advances in tissue engineering, we can potentially access non-living, immunologically tolerated blood vessels for implantation that might allow us to reduce number of interventions. This prospective alternative to the current standard of care has the potential to be a significant game-changer for patients.”

According to Humacyte, the company’s bioengineered blood vessel is cultivated with donated human cells on a tubular scaffold, and then decellularized to allow for allogeneic, off-the-shelf investigational use. In 2014, the product received Fast Track designation for expedited review from the US Food and Drug Administration for vascular access in patients with ESRD requiring hemodialysis, noted the company.