(Alliance News) - Hemogenyx Pharmaceuticals on Wednesday said recent testing showed one of its therapies to be effective against acute myeloid leukaemia, a type of blood cancer.
Shares in the company were 18% higher at 2.25 pence each in London on Wednesday afternoon.
Hemogenyx is developing a form of a chimeric antigen receptor cell, cells which have been genetically modified, in order to treat acute myeloud leukaemia.
In vitro testing found its HEMO-CAR cells were able to programme existing T-cells, a type of immune cell, "to identify and destroy" acute myeloid leukaemia cells.
In vitro testing means it was performed in a controlled laboratory environment like a test tube or petri dish.
Next, Hemogenyx will perform a similar study, this time in-vivo, so on a whole living organism. The study will be performed on humanised mice developed by Hemogenyx's Immugenyx subsidiary.
Chief Executive Vladislav Sandler said: "We are encouraged by this new data which demonstrates our continuing progress in the development of novel treatments for blood cancers such as AML. The development of HEMO-CAR-T expands Hemogenyx's pipeline and advances it into a cutting-edge area of cell-based immune therapy.
"We are excited to have developed another product candidate that should, if successful, provide a new and potentially effective treatment for blood cancers for which survival rates are currently very poor."
By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com
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Hemogenyx (HEMO)