Modus Therapeutics

The data presented at EHA shows that sevuparin could represent a major advance in the treatment of anemia, a condition in which the number of red blood cells in the body or the hemoglobin concentration within them is lower than normal. In particular, high levels of hepcidin have been implicated in causing and aggravating the anemias that often complicate chronic kidney disease and chronic inflammation disorders. High hepcidin is also responsible for conferring resistance to the current standard of care therapies to anemia in non-responding patients.

The presentation, titled “Sevuparin potently reduces hepcidin expression in cells, mice and human volunteers” was presented by Dr Michaela Asperti, co-author and a senior member of Professor Maura Poli’s research group at the University of Brescia. Professor Poli and her team at the University of Brescia are renowned for their world-leading research on hepcidin and its role in anemia.

The abstract summarizing the clinical effects of sevuparin can be found here: https://library.ehaweb.org/eha/2023/eha2023-congress/387983

Professor Maura Poli, commenting on the data in the EHA presentation said, “Since long, our laboratory has been focusing on heparinoids and hepcidin, the key hormone in the regulation of systemic iron availability. Being a low-anticoagulant heparinoid, sevuparin allows us to overcome the bleeding risk with normal heparins, while still proving to be very effective in suppressing hepcidin. We are happy for the longstanding collaboration with Modus and that our work together could show sevuparin’s potential as a treatment option in high hepicidin orders, such as anemia of chronic diseases, where the unmet medical need remains high to date. I look forward to continuing our work together on sevuparin and disorders linked to hepcidin.”

The presentation by Dr Asperti included:

• Mechanistic data generated in cells showing that sevuparin was able to inhibit hepcidin production stimulated both from BMP (bone morphogenic protein) and inflammatory pathways.
• Data from studies in mice which demonstrated that sevuparin was able to significantly reduce the levels of hepatic hepcidin 6 hours after dosing.
• Data from human volunteers, who were enrolled in a previous Phase I SAD clinical study with sevuparin, which showed that plasma hepcidin decreased to 30-50% of baseline values in the presence of sevuparin at three different dose levels with maximal suppression between 6 - 24h. All sevuparin doses were found to be safe and well tolerated.

Dr John Öhd, Chief Executive Officer of Modus Therapeutics commented: “We are thrilled that our productive collaboration with Professor Poli and her team at the University of Brescia has allowed us to generate a very compelling and broad data set. These results clearly demonstrate sevuparin’s ability to potently suppress hepcidin at clinically safe dose levels and supports our commitment to offer a new treatment modality for hepcidin related disorders. These data reinforces the potential for a new Phase IIa ready clinical program in patients with chronic disease anemia such as chronic kidney disease. As we move into the second half of 2023, we look forward to providing further updates on this project alongside our planned clinical study in sepsis.”