Capricor Therapeutics announced additional analyses and new functional outcomes data from the Phase 3 HOPE-3 clinical trial of Deramiocel in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), which were presented at the 2026 Muscular Dystrophy Association Clinical & Scientific Conference in Orlando, Florida. Cardiac MRI analyses demonstrated Deramiocel?s impact on cardiac structure in patients with DMD. Evaluation of late gadolinium enhancement (LGE), a marker of myocardial fibrosis, showed a significant reduction in fibrotic segments in patients treated with Deramiocel versus placebo, corresponding to a three-segment treatment difference at 12 months (p=0.022).
The presence of LGE reflects replacement of viable myocardium with fibrotic tissue and is associated with progressive cardiac dysfunction and heart failure risk in DMD cardiomyopathy. In patients with baseline cardiomyopathy, Deramiocel demonstrated an even greater treatment effect on cardiac function. In this subgroup, treatment resulted in a 3.3 percentage-point improvement in LVEF versus placebo, corresponding to greater than 100% attenuation of expected cardiac decline (p=0.017).
A Global Statistical Test (GST), a patient-level composite including Performance of Upper Limb (PUL v2.0), left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), and Patient Global Impression of Severity (PGI-S), demonstrated a statistically significant overall treatment benefit favoring Deramiocel (p=0.017). This composite integrates multiple clinically meaningful domains of disease, reflecting how patients feel and function. Additional functional outcomes evaluating hand-to-mouth activity, an important measure of patient independence, were also presented.
Data from the Duchenne Video Assessment (DVA), a measure of activities of daily living in individuals with Duchenne, showed that the ?eat 10 bites? task resulted in approximately 83% slowing of disease progression compared with placebo (p=0.018). These findings align with results from the mid-level (elbow) PUL v2.0 assessment (p=0.008), providing concordant evidence across both validated clinical and real-world functional measures.
Deramiocel (CAP-1002) consists of allogeneic cardiosphere-derived cells (CDCs), a rare population of cardiac cells that have been shown in preclinical and clinical studies to exert potent immunomodulatory and anti-fibrotic actions in the preservation of cardiac and skeletal muscle function in muscular dystrophies such as DMD. CDCs act by secreting extracellular vesicles known as exosomes, which target macrophages and alter their expression profile to adopt a healing rather than pro-inflammatory phenotype. CDCs have been investigated in more than 250 peer-reviewed scientific publications and administered to over 250 human subjects across multiple clinical trials.
Deramiocel has received Orphan Drug Designation for the treatment of DMD from both the U.S. FDA and the European Medicines Agency (EMA). In addition, it has been granted Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy (RMAT) designation in the U.S., Advanced Therapy Medicinal Product (ATMP) designation in Europe, and Rare Pediatric Disease Designation from the FDA, which may qualify Capricor for a Priority Review Voucher upon approval.
