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About Hemophilia

Hemophilia is a rare but serious bleeding disorder that results from a genetic or an acquired deficiency of a protein required for normal blood coagulation, such as factor VIII (hemophilia A) or factor IX (hemophilia B) in addition to factor VIIa for refractory hemophilia A and hemophilia B patients. Hemophilia patients suffer from potentially life-threatening spontaneous bleeding episodes and substantially prolonged bleeding times upon injury. In cases of severe hemophilia, spontaneous bleeding into muscles or joints is frequent and often results in permanent, disabling joint damage.

Hemophilia patients are initially treated by replacement therapy, receiving purified versions of the clotting factor in which they are deficient. However, a significant number of hemophilia A patients develop inhibitory antibodies against factor VIII and therefore become refractory to this treatment. These patients are then treated with factor VIIa, a protease enzyme that can both initiate blood clotting and, at high doses, "bypass" the factor VIII-dependent step in coagulation. Hemophilia B patients refractory to factor IX may also be treated with factor VIIa.

About Catalyst Biosciences

Catalyst Biosciences is developing the next generation of biopharmaceuticals by harnessing the catalytic power of engineered proteases to target proteins underlying disease. Catalyst's discovery platform rapidly creates and optimizes tailor-made protease drug candidates, called Alterase(TM) therapeutics, that are applicable across a broad spectrum of disease categories. Initially, Catalyst is focusing its product development efforts on Alterase drug candidates for hemophilia, age-related macular dege
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