Tackling blood diseases, immune disorders
Harvard University has completed a license agreement with Magenta Therapeutics, a startup company recently launched in Cambridge, for a portfolio of technologies with the potential to transform blood stem cell transplants from a “treatment of last resort” into a safer, more efficient therapy for patients with blood diseases and immune disorders. To date, even at the cutting edge of hematopoietic (blood) stem cell transplantation, the severe side effects and mortality risk involved in conditioning — preparing patients for the procedure — have been major obstacles to expanding access to this life-saving treatment. Recent scientific advances in conditioning and new methods for harvesting and propagating donor stem cells could offer a new approach. The license agreement spearheaded by Harvard’s Office of Technology Development (OTD) grants Magenta access to a platform of stem cell technologies developed at Harvard, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and Boston Children’s Hospital. Magenta announced today that it has raised $48.5...