The Hadasit Bio portfolio company's product was found safe in preventing rejection of donor blood marrow, but the study was too small to determine whether it was effective.
Hadasit Bio Holdings Ltd. (TASE:HDST; Bulletin Board: HADSY) portfolio company Enlivex Therapeutics Ltd. today reported success in a Phase I/II clinical trial of ApoCell for the treatment of graft versus host disease (GVHD) in blood cancer patients who have had bone marrow transplants from a donor. The trial found that the treatment was safe, causing no significant side effects.
Bone marrow transplants are given to boost the patient's damaged immune system, but the transplant is sometime rejected by the body, resulting in serious side effects, and even death. ApoCell trains the immune system to recognize the foreign tissue, preventing organ rejection.
The study included thirteen patients at four Israeli medical centers.
Enlivex also compared treatment with ApoCell with historical results of patients treated only with bone marrow transplants. It found that the number of patients developing severe GVHD was halved. The company cautioned that the study was too small to determine whether the ApoCell treatment was effective, but that the good results encourage the company to pursue development of the product.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on October 24, 2012
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