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Background: Despite tremendous therapeutic advancements, a significant proportion of coronary artery disease patients suffer from refractory angina pectoris, that is, quality-of-life-compromising angina that is non-manageable with established pharmacological and interventional treatment options. Adenoviral vascular endothelial growth factor-D ΔNΔC (AdVEGF-D)-encoding gene therapy (GT) holds promise for the treatment of refractory angina., Methods: ReGenHeart is an investigator-initiated, multicentre, randomised, placebo-controlled and double-blinded phase 2 clinical trial that aims to study the safety and efficacy of intramyocardially administered angiogenic AdVEGF-D GT for refractory angina. Patients will be randomised in a 2:1 ratio and blocks of six to receive either AdVEGF-D or placebo. Primary endpoints are improvements in functional capacity assessed with the 6 min walking test and angina symptoms with Canadian Cardiovascular Society class after 6 month follow-up. Secondary endpoints are improvements in myocardial perfusion assessed with either positron emission tomography or single-photon emission CT after 6 month follow-up and functional capacity and angina symptoms after 12 months. In addition, changes in the quality of life, the use of angina medication and the incidence of major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events will be evaluated., Conclusions: The phase 2 ReGenHeart trial will provide knowledge of the safety and efficacy of AdVEGF-D GT to ameliorate symptoms in refractory angina patients, extending and further testing positive results from the preceding phase 1/2a trial., Competing Interests: Competing interests: JEKH received consultancy fees from Novo Nordisk and speaker fees from the BMS-Pfizer alliance. JK received consultancy fees from GE Healthcare and Synektik and speaker fees from GE Healthcare, Bayer, Lundbeck, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Pfizer, Siemens Healthineers and Merck, outside of the submitted work. AS received consultancy fees from Amgen, Astra Zeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim and Pfizer, and speaker fees from Abbott, Astra Zeneca and Bayer. Other authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)