Nasal spray to fight heart disease coming in 5 years

A nasal spray that could remove fat in arteries which dramatically raises the risk of heart attacks could be on the market in five years, according to researchers. Researchers found that the new treatment was much more effective in removing fat from arteries than established methods. The vaccine can be given as an injection or in a slightly different form as a nasal spray. The product, as yet unnamed, is waiting for regulatory clearance. A study by Lund University in Sweden found it could reduce plaque by 60 to 70 percent during tests on mice, the Mirror reported. A trial on 144 heart disease sufferers is under way in the US and Canada. The British Heart Foundation medical director Prof Peter Weissberg said the vaccine was “very promising”. It works by stimulating the body’s immune system to produce antibodies which tackle the build-up of fatty deposits in arteries called plaque. The new vaccine or nasal spray could be licensed within five years, the Frontiers in CardioVascular Biology conference in London heard. “The antibody therapy is likely to be expensive so you could probably only afford to give it to people at high risk rather than everyone,” said Lund University’s Prof Jan Nilsson. The scientists’ conference also heard of promising attempts to repair heart muscles scarred by cardiac arrests in mice. Injections of a virus carrying three genes were successful.