Chelator SIGNED

Project "Chelator" data sheet

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 Project objective

β-thalassemia major (βTM) is a lethal orphan disease with genetic background, diagnosed in infancy and requiring recurrent blood transfusions to prevent malformations, assure acceptable quality of life and prolong patient’s lifetime. Constant transfusions are related to severe adverse effects due to the resultant iron overload, including severe impairment of internal organs’ function and heart disease, with cardiac complications causing over two thirds of deaths in βTM patients. Life-long, effective iron chelation therapy is the only measure to reduce these risks, but available chelators have low efficacy and tolerability and/or complicated administration route. Together with high costs it hampers compliance, reducing the efficacy of available chelators even more and leaving unmet the need for safe, effective and easy to use iron chelator. Emeramide is an efficient metal chelator shown to decrease iron levels in vitro and in vivo, with a huge advantage of safety already confirmed in clinical trials up to Phase 2a. The drug has been recognized by the US and the EU authorities and received Orphan Drug Designation for mercury toxicity treatment. Thanks to its great tolerability Emeramide promotes high compliance with chelation therapy, making patients’ lives not only longer, but also as close to normal as possible.