‘Smoldering’ Cardiovascular Crisis

Overall rates of premature deaths related to cardiovascular disease is down about 70 percent since its 1968 peak. Still, heart disease remains the leading cause of death for Americans. With help from Harvard’s Office of Technology Development (OTD), the University patented the new molecule and licensed it to Tectonic Pharmaceuticals, a company Kruse founded. Fewer than five years after the original prototype, Tectonic is now testing an updated version of Erlandson’s molecule in Phase 2 clinical trials. Harvard’s Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator provided funding and business development support to advance the technology toward commercialization. Other technologies aim to treat other advanced stages of heart disease. With funding support from Harvard’s Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator, stem cell and regenerative biology professor Richard T. Lee and engineering professor Jia Liu are co-developing a flexible, tissue-like device designed to both detect and stop atrial fibrillation — an irregular heart rhythm that can lead to stroke and heart failure. “If you could stop it before it gets going, then you really have something,” Lee said.