The FORTIFY study, which is sponsored by the US biopharmaceutical company Abcentra, is testing orticumab, a human monoclonal antibody used as an anti-inflammatory treatment for heart inflammation. Around 240 people will take part in the trial in the United States and Europe.
All the participants in the trial have had a previous heart attack and currently experience high levels of coronary inflammation. This inflammation is based on the fat attenuation index (FAI) score, a method developed at the University of Oxford and delivered through the Oxford spin-out company Caristo Diagnostics.
The technology measures the change in structure in the peri-vascular adipose tissue that surrounds the coronary arteries using a routine coronary computed tomography angiography, or a heart CT scan. A high FAI score has become an important biomarker indicating greater inflammation and increased risk of heart attacks, and it is used clinically within the NHS and other healthcare systems around the world.
Read the full story on the Radcliffe Department of Medicine website.