Lunac Therapeutics Ltd. has synthesized coagulation factor XII (FXIIa) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of arthritis, Alzheimer's disease, disseminated intravascular coagulation, pulmonary embolism, myocardial infarction, diabetic retinopathy, stroke and deep venous thrombosis, among others.
CRISPR gene editing has been one of the important advances of the last decade, in biotechnology and increasingly in medicine. First applied to human cells in 2013, and honored with the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, its meteoric rise can make CRISPR look like the molecular equivalent of a miracle healer. But in the research and clinical trenches, CRISPR-based approaches, like any others, need to find applications where their desired effects outweigh their side effects. And finding those applications necessitates ways to identify off-target effects.
SLN-140 (Silence Therapeutics plc) is a novel small interfering RNA (siRNA) targeting protein S for the treatment of hemophilia A (HA). Researchers from the University of Bern recently presented data from studies conducted in animal models of HA, performed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of SLN-140.
New and updated clinical data presented by biopharma firms at the American Society of Hematology annual meeting and exposition, including: Amgen, Beigene, Novartis, Pharming.
Vega Therapeutics Inc. has reported promising preclinical data on VGA-039, a first-in-class monoclonal antibody directed against human protein S (ProS) that inhibits ProS cofactor activity for tissue factor pathway inhibitor α (TFPIα) and activated protein C (aPC), thus enhancing thrombin generation by acting on both the initiation (TFPIα) and propagation (aPC) phases of coagulation for potential activity against various bleeding disorders.
After gaining U.S. FDA priority approval for the first gene therapy to treat hemophilia B, CSL Ltd. reported long-term data from the pivotal HOPE-B trial that showed a single infusion of Hemgenix (etranacogene dezaparvovec-drlb) generated elevated and sustained mean factor IX levels and reduced the rate of annual bleeding.
New and updated clinical data presented by biopharma firms at the American Society of Hematology annual meeting and exposition, including: Abbvie, Actinium, Adicet, Affimed, Agios, Alphamab, Aptose, Argenx, Ascentage, Bellicum, Blueprint, BMS, Cellcentric, Cogent, CSL, CTI, Ellipses, Excellthera, Fate, Genentech.
Novelmed Therapeutics Inc. has reported topline results with its lead anti-properdin antibody NM-3086 in a rabbit model of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH). NM-3086 is a potent, first-in-class, humanized monoclonal antibody that is highly selective for properdin of the alternative pathway (AP) without blocking the classical pathway (CP), which is critical for maintaining host defense against infections.
Doctors at Great Ormond Street Hospital London have reported the first successful use of base-edited donor T cells, in the treatment of refractory T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma. The case of a 13-year-old girl named Alyssa, whose disease had not responded to chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant, was presented at the American Society of Hematology meeting in New Orleans on Dec. 11, 2022.