Gensia Inc. preclinical data

Animal data from a model of human myocardial infarction suggest a protective role for an adenosine receptor in heart attack. A phenomenon called preconditioning was shown to be augmented by adenosine. Scientists are now working to identify a drug that can be given therapeutically to act at the adenosine receptor called A3, to induce the protective effect.

A brief blockade of a coronary artery can limit the injury caused by a subsequent, longer artery closure. This preconditioning occlusion of the coronary artery, plus GNSA's acadesine, an adenosine promoter, was reported at the meeting to decrease infarct size significantly (p < 0.01, eight rabbits in each group). ...