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Hansa Biopharma
HNSA (, %) SEK
Hansa Biopharma
immune system

Our therapeutic areas​

Our unique enzyme technology has the potential to transform the lives of people affected by rare immunologic conditions, including transplant rejection, genetic diseases, autoimmune conditions, and cancer.

Our enzyme technology 

We have developed our proprietary antibody-cleaving enzyme technology platform to target pathogenic or disease causing antibodies. Our first-generation IgG-cleaving enzyme, imlifidase, is designed to rapidly and specifically inactivate IgG antibodies in plasma and tissue through a single intravenous treatment. We are currently evaluating imlifidase across a wide spectrum of disease areas and indications in an effort to address significant unmet medical needs.

Our broad pipeline spans kidney transplantation, both pre- and post-transplantation; antibody-mediated rejection (AMR); rare IgG-mediated autoimmune conditions such as anti-glomerular basement membrane disease (anti-GBM) and Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS); and cancer. We are also evaluating imlifidase as a pre-treatment ahead of gene therapy to potentially allow treatment of patients with pre-existing neutralizing antibodies against gene therapy vectors.

Rare patients 

While the conditions we focus on are rare, each affecting fewer than one in 2,000 people, they take a huge toll on the lives of those who live with them. This is why we are continually exploring new clinical avenues with imlifidase, to further help transform the lives of patients with rare diseases.  

The European Union considers a disease as rare when it affects less than 5 in 10,000 people1. Rare diseases currently affect 3.5% - 5.9% of the worldwide population, an estimated 30 million people in Europe and 300 million worldwide2. 

Reference:

1. European Commission available at https://ec.europa.eu/health/non_communicable_diseases/rare_diseases_en. Last accessed February 2022.

2. Nguengang Wakap S, et al. Eur J Hum Genet. 2020; Feb;28(2):165-173 

Transplantation

IgG antibodies constitute an important element of the protective immune response, but can, in some situations, be pathogenic or harmful. The IgG response to “non-self” donor tissues and the resulting immune system activation may prevent patients from receiving life altering therapies, such as organ transplantation.

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Autoimmune conditions

Autoimmune conditions form a group of serious indications caused by the immune system attacking self-antigens. We are exploring ways in which our unique antibody-cleaving technology can help patients by counteracting or preventing the immune reactions that cause these debilitating and potentially life-threatening conditions.

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Gene therapy

Sometimes gene therapy patients present antibodies that can block the gene therapy vector and prevent successful gene therapy treatment. We are exploring opportunities for our antibody-cleaving enzyme technology to potentially enable gene therapy treatment in patients with these neutralizing antibodies.

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Oncology

While research into further applications for imlifidase shows promise in a number of areas, we believe there are many additional applications for this innovative therapy and others like it in new areas such as oncology.

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