JERUSALEM, Feb. 4, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Hadasit Bio-Holdings Ltd. (TASE: HDST, OTC: HADSY), a publicly traded portfolio of biotech companies, based on intellectual property developed and owned by Hadassah University Hospital, Israel‘s foremost medical research center, today announced that its portfolio company, KAHR Medical Ltd. (“KAHR”), was granted a U.S. patent approval (U.S. Patent No. 8329657).
This patent approval follows other patents already received in the U.S., Europe, Japan and Israel, protecting different combinations of KAHR’s ‘Signal Converting Proteins (SCPs)’, which are bi-functional chimeric proteins with synergistic effects that improve the efficiency of pharmaceutical treatments. The newly issued patent protects one of KAHR’s products in development, KAHR-101, which has been shown to be effective in the treatment of various cancers, arthritis and multiple sclerosis in animal models.
Ophir Shahaf, CEO of Hadasit Bio-Holdings, stated, “KAHR Medical develops ground-breaking products and we are constantly working to strengthen the company’s intellectual property. The company uses a novel technology by which two therapeutic pathways can be simultaneously stimulated by a single protein drug in a synergistic manner, optimizing the care provided to patients. The completion of a recent fundraising round a few months ago will allow for further development and advancement of KAHR’s drugs. We believe that in the coming year our portfolio companies will continue to present considerable clinical and business developments increasing their value as well as ours.”
About KAHR Medical Ltd.
KAHR Medical is developing an innovative platform technology that produces a large number of protein-based drugs with two complementary targets. The leading products in KAHR’s pipeline are designed to treat several types of cancer and diseases of the immune system. The Signal Converting Proteins (SCPs) can activate or block two biological signals in parallel, as opposed to the conventional drugs available today which address a single aspect of the disease. The original SCP technology was developed at the University of Pennsylvania and at Hadassah by the Head of the Nephrology Department, Dr. Michal Dranitzki - Elhalel. Hadasit Bio-Holdings currently holds about 55% of the company, Sanofi owns approximately 20% of the company and Thomas Eldred, owner of Recipharm (a leading European drug manufacturer), holds approximately 15%.
For more information about KAHR Medical please visit: www.kahr-medical.com
For more information about Hadasit Bio-Holdings please visit: www.hbl.co.il
Investor Contact:
KCSA Strategic Communications
Phil Carlson / Josh Dver
212.896.1233 / 1239
pcarlson@kcsa.com / jdver@kcsa.com
SOURCE Hadasit Bio-Holdings Ltd.
