Hemab’s Blood Clotting Therapies at the heart of human resilience
While patients with common bleeding and thrombotic disorders have had access to preventative treatments for more than a half-century, no such measures exist for less-common disorders. For these underserved men, women, and children, life is paralyzingly unpredictable. A bleeding or thrombotic event can strike at any moment, from a simple menstrual period to a routine dental procedure, and cause symptoms so severe that by the time they reach a hospital, it may be too late.
Hemab, a rare bleeding disorder company initially funded through Novo Holdings’ company creation and building efforts, is leapfrogging technological advancements to deliver the first ever prophylactic treatments and functional cures for the full spectrum of genetically driven bleeding and thrombotic disorders to prevent life-threatening complications and offer patients a new lifeline. Hemab’s mission is to ensure that every clotting disorder patient has the security and peace of mind they deserve. Its novel therapies are designed to accumulate, modulate, and at times recruit endogenous clotting factors already present in the blood to the site of injury to enable patients to form clots at the right times and in the right places.
In February 2023, Hemab announced the closing of its oversubscribed $135M Series B financing to advance the first prophylactic treatments for bleeding and thrombotic disorders. This followed the Company’s $55M Series A financing in July 2021, co-led by Novo Holdings.
We spoke to Hemab’s CEO, Benny Sorensen and Board Director Jørgen Søberg Petersen of Novo Holdings to find out about the Company, its recent financing, and its outlook for the future.
Benny Sorensen, MD, PhD, CEO & President of Hemab
1. What is Hemab’s vision?
Hemab’s vision is to deliver the first ever prophylactic treatments and functional cures for the full spectrum of genetically driven bleeding and thrombotic disorders to prevent life-threatening complications and offer patients a new lifeline.
2. What advances does Hemab bring to addressing this unmet medical need?
Leveraging validated advanced technologies and key insights into the biology of clotting,. Hemab’s therapeutic candidates bind the body’s native clotting factor(s) with high specificity and affinity. This binding can stabilize the native clotting factor(s), preventing breakdown and allowing accumulation to therapeutic levels. The state-of-the-art technology also allows, when necessary, to recruit native clotting factors directly to the site of injury.
3. How will the funds raised in the latest financing be used?
The financing will support Hemab’s scientific and corporate growth plans through 2025, including the completion of the ongoing Phase 1/2 clinical study of lead candidate HMB-001 in Glanzmann Thrombasthenia. The funds will also be used for the initiation of pivotal studies, the start and completion of Phase 1/2 clinical evaluation for HMB-VWF in von Willebrand disease, and future pipeline evolution. Hemab is — targeting the development of 5 clinical assets by 2025.
4. What are Hemab’s upcoming milestones? What can we expect from Hemab in the next 12 months?
In the next 12 months, we expect to complete our Phase 1 clinical study of HMB-001.
5. What is the potential impact of Hemab’s lead therapeutic in Glanzmann?
Current treatments for Glanzmann Thrombasthenia are designed to treat bleeding, instead of preventing it. However, Hemab is developing the first ever prophylactic treatment. HMB-001 is a bispecific antibody that binds and stabilizes endogenous factor VIIa (FVIIa) with one antibody arm and TLT-1 on activated platelets with the other arm. It was designed to be a first-in-class prophylactic treatment for Glanzmann Thrombasthenia with potential for other debilitating rare bleeding disorders.
Jørgen Søberg Petersen, MD, PhD, MBA, Partner at Novo Holdings.
1. What excites you about Hemab?
Hemab is developing the first ever preventative treatments for rare clotting diseases. The Company’s pipeline is exciting because it allows for widespread expansion into a range of underserved bleeding and thrombotic disorders and is serving patients that have been left behind despite recent innovative therapies.
2. What does the future look like for patients with rare blood-clotting diseases?
With companies like Hemab researching and developing innovative preventative treatment methods, we hope patients with rare blood-clotting diseases will soon have effective first line treatment available to them, to be able to have a safer and better quality of life.
3. How does Novo Holdings support companies like Hemab?
We provide capital, network and know-how to transform promising life-science discoveries into successful biotech startups. We focus on company creation and building biotech startups in the Nordic region. Our Seed Investments aims to develop strong and competitive companies that we finance all the way to a commercial exit.
4. What is Novo Holdings' investment strategy?
Our mission at Novo Holdings is to invest in innovation to benefit people and the planet.
5. What motivated you to invest in Hemab and how do you see its potential for impact?
As a founding investor and the Company’s largest shareholder, we are excited to support Hemab in the next phase of its plan to build the ultimate clotting company, with a Nordic foundation and global footprint. Hemab and its assets hold enormous potential to significantly improve the lives of patients living with rare blood-clotting disorders.
6. What was Novo Holdings’ role in the start of the Company?
The Company was created in 2020 by the early-stage investment and company creation team of Novo Holdings. The Seed Investment team worked closely with the founders to develop a commercially attractive business plan to maximize the potential of Hemab’s promising technology platform where Novo Holdings co-led the $55M Series A financing.
