Business
University of Oxford Collaboration
University of Oxford Collaboration.
About this update from Hemogenyx Pharmaceuticals Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \nRNS Number : 9031W Hemogenyx Pharmaceuticals PLC 20 November 2017 \n\nHemogenyx Pharmaceuticals Plc\n(\"Hemogenyx\" or the \"Company\")\n \nUniversity of Oxford Collaboration\n \nCollaboration promises to 'turbo-charge' development of blood cancer treatments\n \nHemogenyx Pharmaceuticals Plc (LSE: HEMO), a biotechnology company developing novel therapies to transform bone marrow, or blood stem cell, transplantation for the treatment of blood diseases, has entered into a collaboration with the University of Oxford to test new means of accelerating and improving the process by which transplanted blood stem cells grow and make healthy blood cells. \n \nHemogenyx will leverage the experience of researchers at the University of Oxford in administering certain biologics to stem cells to attempt to accelerate and improve the engraftment of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells in animal models. Engraftment is the process by which blood stem cells integrate into the bone marrow and make healthy blood. If successful, this approach has the potential to dramatically improve the efficiency and safety of bone marrow transplants.\n \nHemogenyx also will test whether this approach facilitates the conversion of Human Post-natal Hemogenic Endothelial Cells (Hu-PHEC), Hemogenyx's proprietary source of blood stem cells, into fully functional, transplantable blood stem cells. Hu-PHEC generate cancer-free, patient-matched blood stem cells and are the basis of Hemogenyx's cell therapy product. Using Hu-PHEC, Hemogenyx intends to revolutionize bone marrow transplants, improving the efficacy of the therapy and potentially eliminating the need to find a matching bone marrow donor, a problem that the majority of patients who need allogeneic bone marrow transplants currently face. \n \nBlood cancers affect more than 1.1 million people in the United States each year and it is estimated that 171,500 new patients were diagnosed with blood cancer in 2016. Currently, up to 60% of patients who need allogeneic bone marrow transplants are unable to find a donor match for the procedure, and, for those who do manage to identify a donor, up to 50% of bone marrow transplants fail due to the body's rejection of the transplant, complications from the procedure or a relapse of the disease. Hemogenyx seeks to fundamentally chang...