Polytherics to Collaborate With UCL to Develop a New Treatment for ‘Sticky Blood’ Syndrome

PolyTherics Ltd has announced a new collaboration with Professor Anisur Rahman at UCL (University College London), to use its proprietary site-specific PEGylation to develop a treatment for antiphospholipid syndrome.

PolyTherics Ltd, an innovator in precision engineering of proteins, has announced a new collaboration with Professor Anisur Rahman at UCL (University College London), to use its proprietary site-specific PEGylation to develop a treatment for antiphospholipid syndrome. Professor Rahman and his team have been awarded a 5-year grant of nearly £700,000 from Arthritis Research UK to support the work. 

Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS), also known as ‘sticky blood’ syndrome, is an autoimmune disease that particularly affects young people and causes blood clots, strokes or recurrent miscarriages. It occurs more commonly in patients with autoimmune rheumatic diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus. Patients with APS have antibodies to their own phospholipids, which bind to phospholipid-protein complexes in the body. This is thought to trigger changes that affect blood clotting. There is no cure for APS; patients are sometimes given anticoagulant drugs to pre