HEMO RNS8 May 2018 08:12
mogenyx Pharma Plc
Research Collaboration with Rockefeller University
RNS Number : 2600N
Hemogenyx Pharmaceuticals PLC
08 May 2018
Hemogenyx Pharmaceuticals Plc
("Hemogenyx" or the "Company")
Research Collaboration with Rockefeller University
Collaboration targeting potential new treatments for Lupus using Hemogenyx's humanized mice
Hemogenyx Pharmaceuticals Plc (LSE: HEMO), the biotechnology company developing novel therapies to transform bone marrow, or blood stem cell, transplantation for the treatment of blood diseases, announces that it has entered into a collaboration agreement with The Rockefeller University ("Rockefeller"), one of the world's foremost research institutions, with 82 labs dedicated to basic and translational bioscience and strong commitment to using the power of basic science to further the development of new medicines and reduce human suffering. The collaboration calls for scientists at Rockefeller to use Hemogenyx's new type of humanized mice for autoimmune disease modelling in an effort to develop new treatments for autoimmune diseases - specifically Lupus.
Under the agreement, the collaborative work will be co-led by investigators at Hemogenyx and Rockefeller. Professor Alexander Tarakhovsky, a member of Hemogenyx's Scientific Advisory Board and Head of Rockefeller's Laboratory of Immune Cell Epigenetics and Signaling, will act as the principal investigator for Rockefeller. Dr. Vladislav Sandler, CEO & Co-Founder of Hemogenyx, will act as the principal investigator for Hemogenyx. The Directors of Hemogenyx are confident that the collaboration does not require forms of funding that would be dilutive to Hemogenyx shareholders.
Dr. Sandler commented: "This agreement with Rockefeller has the potential to extend our product candidate opportunities into a new and exciting area, and we would fully expect to see the work funded through future non-dilutive grant funding. Shareholders can now also see the potential for the use of our technology beyond our current bone marrow transplantation focus to treat debilitating and otherwise incurable autoimmune diseases such as Lupus."
Lupus is a devastating and life-changing autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system becomes hyperactive and attacks normal, healthy tissues, resulting in symptoms such as inflammation, swelling, and damage to joints, skin, kidneys, blood, the heart, and lungs. The Lupus Foundation of America estimates that 1.5 million Americans, and at least five million people worldwide, have a form of Lupus. Lupus currently has no cure and strikes mostly women of childbearing age. Most people with Lupus develop the disease between the ages of 15-44.
The first stage of the development work will create a mouse model using novel proprietary methods of mice humanization developed by Hemogenyx. By using blood stem cells from subgroups of patients with the early onset of Lupus, the pro