BU researchers raise $20M for blood disorders

PUBLISHED by The Daily Free Press

HemaQuest Pharmaceuticals, a company created a few weeks ago by Boston University researchers, announced recently it has raised $20 million to develop new drugs to treat serious blood disorders.


For the past 10 years, Dr. Susan Perrine and her husband and co-worker, Dr. Douglas Faller - both School of Medicine professors who founded the company - have been developing treatments for blood disorders. The disorders are commonly inherited diseases, such as sickle cell anemia - in which blood cells are deformed and harm organs - that can lead to infant deaths.

"[Perrine and Faller] developed new compounds that can detect [blood cell] abnormalities in the lab," said HemaQuest President and CEO Ronald Berenson.

Perrine, a specialist in blood-disease treatments in pediatrics, has treated patients for more than 20 years, 10 of which have been spent at the School of Medicine.

Although HemaQuest was created just weeks ago, Berenson said he has worked for a year to raise money for the company, and various venture capitalists have invested in it.

"[Fundraising] went really fast," Berenson said. "I went to people I knew, and they were really interested because of the team, the opportunity and the drugs, so it went well."

Berenson said HemaQuest mapped out a business plan detailing the company's strategy and costs. Company members then approached venture capitalists for funds to cover work for two years and received money from interested investors over a four-to-six-month period.

Investors include Palo Alto healthcare partnership De Novo Ventures, San Diego life sciences firm Forward Ventures and Indianapolis-based Lilly Ventures.

Berenson said the money will be used for drug development and to "test them in . . . healthy volunteers, and then patients who have these diseases."

Additionally, he said HemaQuest will provide funding for more BU research.

Faller said in addition to researching treatments for blood disorders, HemaQuest will continue drug development in other areas.

"HemaQuest has a diverse group of scientific discoveries licensed into it from our work," he said in an email. "Other licensed therapies at different stages of development are directed at . . . cancer and chronic wounds."

HemaQuest could develop the first safe drugs to treat blood disorders - such as sickle cell anemia and thalassemia, a deformity that causes deficiencies in blood cells - helping millions of patients, according to a Nov. 1 press release.

"As a practicing physician, the lack of effective therapies to alleviate the tremendous suffering of patients with [blood] disorders is discouraging," Perrine said in the release. "I am excited to have the opportunity to develop targeted therapeutics based on patented discoveries made by . . . my group at Boston University."