Takeda and Enzyre to Develop Diagnostic Device Allowing Hemophilia Patients to Determine their Coagulation Status at Home

NIJMEGEN, Netherlands, Dec. 5, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Enzyre, which is developing breakthrough ambulant diagnostic technology for coagulation testing, today announced that it has entered into a research collaboration agreement with Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (Takeda) to develop a diagnostic device that will enable hemophilia patients to determine their coagulation status at home.

Hemophilia is a rare genetic disorder that affects approximately 400,000 worldwide.¹ Those with hemophilia lack sufficient blood-clotting proteins, including factor VIII (FVIII), causing them to bleed for a longer time after an injury compared to people without hemophilia. This condition is complex to manage, but many patients do so through home therapy and often only see their core multidisciplinary healthcare team yearly.¹ There is therefore an increasing need for patients to be able to monitor their condition more efficiently at home while staying connected with their care team. This is what Enzyre and Takeda are trying to achieve through their collaboration.

Under terms of the agreement, Enzyre will receive funding from Takeda to further tailor its existing technology, which will allow automatic determination of coagulation status of hemophilic patients and transfer the test results to the patients' treating physicians immediately through an app on a mobile phone.

Dirk Pollet, Chief Executive Officer of Enzyre, said: "Diabetics have long been able to individually manage their disease through home glucose measurement, and we are determined to make this the case for those living with hemophilia. With our proprietary technology, we aim to provide hemophilia patients and their care-givers with peace of mind by allowing them to monitor coagulation status at home. Ultimately we'd like to empower these patients to live a normal life."

Peter Turecek, Senior Director, Global Medical Affairs of Takeda commented "At Takeda, we value collaborations like this as they support our continued vision of delivering patient-centric, personalized healthcare to patients. We recognize the need for working with partners and pooling resources to achieve our common goal: to advance standard of care and optimize treatment outcomes for patients living with bleeding disorders."

Waander van Heerde, Chief Scientific Officer of Enzyre, added: "We are delighted to have Takeda on board as our development partner. Next to their financial support, they also bring a wealth of knowledge on the treatment of hemophilia. I hope combining our expertise will result in a long-needed innovation in the monitoring of coagulation status for patients living with hemophilia."

"We always put our patients first," Alvaro Herreros, Head of Rare Hematology and Neuroscience Franchises of Takeda, added, "and I'm excited about what this collaboration with Enzyre could bring. I hope in the near future we will be able to offer patients and their care-givers an easier, more innovative solution to manage hemophilia at home, while helping the healthcare team provide more holistic, personalized care to their patients."  

About Enzyre

Enzyre, based in Nijmegen, is a spin out from Radboud University Medical Center in The Netherlands aiming to develop a point-of-care diagnostic device focused on blood coagulation which maximizes flexibility of the user. Enzyre's platform technology is unique as it requires just a small volume of blood and is able to measure up to twelve (12) reactions simultaneously with high sensitivity and specificity without any laboratory infrastructure; at the home, on the road or in a critical care setting. Enzyre's proprietary technology is a small single use diagnostic tool with high sensitivity and specificity. It has broad application in several disease settings. This offers enormous benefits to patients in that it can avoid crisis situations driven by changes in coagulation status; provides ease of mind for patients; offers the potential to empower patients to optimize treatment themselves; can be quick turnaround tool in the clinical setting; and can reduce GP consultation visits.

For more information please visit www.enzyre.com.

About Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (TSE:4502/NYSE:TAK) is a global, values-based, R&D-driven biopharmaceutical leader headquartered in Japan, committed to bringing Better Health and a Brighter Future to patients by translating science into highly-innovative medicines. Takeda focuses its R&D efforts on four therapeutic areas: Oncology, Rare Diseases, Neuroscience, and Gastroenterology (GI). We also make targeted R&D investments in Plasma-Derived Therapies and Vaccines. We are focusing on developing highly innovative medicines that contribute to making a difference in people's lives by advancing the frontier of new treatment options and leveraging our enhanced collaborative R&D engine and capabilities to create a robust, modality-diverse pipeline. Our employees are committed to improving quality of life for patients and to working with our partners in health care in approximately 80 countries.

For more information, visit https://www.takeda.com.

¹ World Federation of Hemophilia. General Care and Management of Hemophilia. Guidelines for the Management of Hemophilia. Last updated in 2016. Accessed November 2019. Available at: http://elearning.wfh.org/resource/general-care-and-management-of-hemophilia/