ThromboGenics begins anti-VPAC antibody preclinicals

ThromboGenics NV, a Belgian biotechnology company focused on vascular disease, says that it will progress with the development of its novel anti-vasoactive intestinal peptide/pituitary adenylyl cyclase activating peptide receptor-1 (VPAC) antibody for the treatment of thrombocytopenia, including chemotherapy-induced thrombocytopenia.

Thrombocytopenia, which is the reduced number of platelets in blood, is a common severe side effect of chemotherapy and increases the risk of bleeding and severity of hemorrhage, therefore causing the delay or even discontinuation of treatment in cancer patients. There is a high medical need to find a therapeutic that could reduce thrombocytopenia by accelerating platelet production. Blood transfusion, the current standard of care for this condition, offers only a temporary solution for these patients and is associated with significant cost and risk, the firm notes.

Researchers at the University of Leuven, Belgium, and ThromboGenics have developed a novel therapeutic approach, showing that the inhibition of VPAC could stimulate the production of platelets. The company has now identified and selected a lead antibody against VPAC to enter preclinical development. VPAC is a receptor present at the surface of bone marrow cells called megakaryocytes, which, when mature, produce platelets. Research published on November 13 in Blood, the official journal of the American Society of Hematology, describes how the inhibition of VPAC could promote megakaryocyte differentiation.