Humanigen Inc finds support for its strategy in treating graft-versus-host disease in medical journal article

Humanigen Inc (OTCMKTS:HGEN) told investors Tuesday that a recent study published in the medical journal Blood Advances supports its strategy in the development of a treatment for severe graft-versus-host disease (GvHD). 

The study found that GM-CSF, a protein involved in the creation of white blood cells, is necessary to initiate a cascade that drives lethal GvHD. If GM-CSF isn’t able to give off signals, however, the study showed a significant reduction in the disease.

That’s where Humanigen’s drug lenzilumab, an anti-GM-CSF immunotherapy, comes in.

READ: Humanigen bolsters treatment of graft-versus-host disease in leukemia patients via licensing agreement with the University of Zurich

The California-based company is currently planning a Phase 2 trial in the UK for patients at high risk of acute GvHD. 

In July, Humanigen received an exclusive worldwide license from the University of Zurich for technologies to prevent and treat GvHD through GM-CSF neutralization.

Blood Advances is the official journal of the American Society of Hematology. The article, published Tuesday, is entitled “Donor T-cell derived GM-CSF drives alloantigen presentation by dendritic cells in the gastrointestinal tract.”

Contact Andrew Kessel at [email protected] 

Follow him on Twitter @andrew_kessel

Story by ProactiveInvestors