HemoShear moves into discovery of therapeutics

Privately-held discovery stage biotech company HemoShear is expanding its business strategy to include the discovery of therapeutics for organic acidemias, a group of rare genetic metabolic disorders, and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.

The company plans to build a portfolio of therapeutic candidates, and will change its name to HemoShear Therapeutics. It will leverage its proprietary platform, REVEAL-Tx, which provides a unique ability to characterize and interrogate metabolic disorders. HemoShear Therapeutics has developed proprietary models of a spectrum of fatty liver diseases. These models parallel hallmarks of fatty liver disease and NASH observed in the clinic.

Vincent Aurentz, president of HemoShear Therapeutics, said: "In late 2014, we established a collaboration with Children's National Medical Center (CNMC) to discover drugs for children with rare metabolic diseases. HemoShear Therapeutics is focusing on a family of rare disorders responsible for chemical imbalances in the body that result in life-threatening health complications at an early age. Tragically, these young patients rarely live past their teens and no drugs exist to treat their diseases."