Promethera Biosciences completes patient enrolment for first clinical trial of HepaStem

Nov 12 2013

Promethera Biosciences has conducted the trial in Belgium, France, United Kingdom, Italy and Israel, treating twenty patients affected by very rare liver-based metabolic diseases

Promethera Biosciences, a Belgian biotechnology company developing Promethera^(R) HepaStem, a cell-based therapy for the treatment of liver-based metabolic diseases including Crigler-Najjar Syndrome and Urea Cycle Disorders, announces today the completion of patient enrolment for its first clinical trial.

Promethera Biosciences is conducting a first-in-man trial with HepaStem in paediatric patients suffering from orphan diseases.

This trial is a prospective, open label, multicenter phase I/II clinical study involving Urea Cycle Disorders (UCD) and Crigler-Najjar (CN) syndrome paediatric patients. The trial is a dose escalation study designed to evaluate the safety and the preliminary efficacy of Promethera HepaStem. 

Most young patients affected by these very rare diseases have limited therapeutic options and may die at an early age. CN syndrome has an incidence of around one in a million births. It becomes apparent during the neonatal period by early intense jaundice due to unconjugated bilirubin. The UCD are a group of eight inborn errors of metabolism that affect the transfer of nitrogen into urea. Although each specific disorder results in the accumulation of different precursors, hyperammonemia and hyperglutaminemia are common biochemical hallmarks of these disorders. UCD are also considered as rare diseases with an incidence between 1 in 8,000 and 1 in 44,000.

Promethera Biosciences has successfully treated 20 patients with HepaStem in collaboration with 11 clinical centers. The end of the trial is scheduled for October 2014 after a patient follow-up period of 12 months.

Promethera HepaStem is an innovative cell therapy product based on the use of allogeneic progenitor cells derived from livers obtained from adult (non-embryonic) organ donors. These cells are capable of in-vitro expansion and in-vivo differentiation into hepatocyte-like cells. The cells can be used to treat a wide variety of liver diseases from rare inborn metabolic diseases such as UCD and CN (classified as ‘orphan diseases’ and mainly affecting children), to acquired deficiencies affecting adults such as fulminant hepatitis or liver fibrosis. 

Given the scarcity of patients, Promethera Biosciences has conducted the trial in five countries: Belgium, France, United Kingdom, Italy and Israel. In total, 11 clinical centers actively participate in the study: Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, Belgium, Universitair Ziekenhuis Antwerp, Belgium, Hopital Jeanne de Flandre in Lille, France, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Bicetre in Paris, France, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Toulouse, France, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, UK, Great Ormond Street Hospital, UK, IRCCS Ospedale Pediatrico del Bambino Jesu, Italy, Meyer Children’s Hospital at Rambam Health Care Campus, Israel, Hadassah Ein-Kerem Medical Center, Israel, Schneider Children’s Medical Center of Israel. The study started in March 2012 with the first patient treated in Belgium. As of today, 20 patients aged from six weeks to 16 years have been treated with Promethera HepaStem.

Dr. Beatrice De Vos, chief medical officer of Promethera Biosciences said: “The successful recruitment of 20 patients suffering from very rare diseases in only 18 months was achieved thanks to three important factors: an extensive network of collaborating centers of the founder hospital, strong communication with the treating physicians of the patients and dedicated teams at Promethera Biosciences. Each new country and each new clinical center brought new challenges that our teams have addressed inventively and professionally.”

Professor Etienne Sokal, chief scientific officer of Promethera Biosciences, paediatric hepatologist at Cliniques Universitaires Saint Luc, Belgium and director of UCL’s Liver Cell Therapy Program, Belgium, said: “With patients treated at their own center, separate from Promethera, we have demonstrated the feasibility of proposing HepaStem treatment to any patient around the world, giving them the opportunity to receive innovative treatment locally.” 

Eric Halioua, chief executive officer of Promethera Biosciences said: “We are very pleased to have achieved this new milestone in the development of our main product HepaStem. During the trial another innovation took place with the use of a mobile formulation unit operating near the medical site. This mobile production unit was used to both carry the material and to formulate the product. The GMP approval process by the Belgian authorities considered the unit as an extension of the Promethera Biosciences GMP certified manufacturing unit. A sterile and closed formulation system for preparing the final product was installed in this unit, operating so that the cells could be delivered in real time at the bedside of the patient. A patent for the mobile unit has been filed and is being examined before issuance.”

Source: http://www.promethera.com/