We’re kicking off the new year with #Hemerainfirstperson, our interview series featuring the members of our dream team.Today, it’s the turn of Prof. Massimo Locati, Hemera’s Scientific Director.
How did the team composition influence the birth and development of the proof of concept for the therapy?
Regenerative therapy is one of the great promises of modern medicine, a frontier with immense potential; yet it is also one of the fields where painful setbacks have been recorded for years. The main reason for these failures is the difficulty of effectively acting in a scenario characterized by multiple biological processes that intertwine and influence each other. Hemera’s experience shows that our chances improve when different skills synergize. In Hemera’s case, the cross-fertilization between neuroscience and immunology expertise created an ideal environment to focus on an innovative regenerative medicine approach that isolated individual skills could never have grasped.
What is the main scientific value of Hemera’s innovation with REMaST?
REMaST shifts the focus of regenerative approaches from the specific cell of the damaged tissue to the context as a whole, technically known as the ‘microenvironment.’ In particular, in the neuroregenerative field, experience has shown the limits of approaches aimed directly at supporting neuronal cell regeneration, for example using various types of stem cells. Specifically, in injured nervous tissue, a hostile environment forms that prevents regeneration by stem cells. Hemera’s innovation consists of a therapeutic approach shift, using another cell type—macrophages—that can act on the hostile microenvironment.
What are macrophages and why are they important?
Macrophages are immune cells, traditionally considered involved in defense processes; however, these cells also have the function of creating, in damaged organs, the best microenvironmental conditions for the organ’s inherent regenerative potential to be expressed. In many contexts, this synergy guarantees excellent regenerative capacities—but not in the central nervous system. We have known for years about the pro-regenerative functions of macrophages, but until now, this potential has not been exploited to generate innovative forms of therapy.
How does the tissue regeneration process induced by Hemera’s therapy work?
REMaST is a cellular preparation made up of macrophages trained in vitro to maximize their regeneration-promoting functions. Our preclinical data show that, in a specific functional state induced by our company’s patented method, these cells express certain properties that collectively enable the regeneration of tissues—such as the nervous system—that have a low repair propensity. Studying their therapeutic capabilities, we realized that REMaST® acts on several aspects of the repair and regeneration process.
They improve neuron survival by acting directly on these nerve cells, but they also affect other structures involved in the damage. In particular, they stimulate the formation of new blood vessels, improving the supply of blood and oxygen necessary to support regeneration, and they remodel the scar that develops at the injury site, which compromises nerve impulse transmission. Rather than acting like a classic drug targeting a specific biological function, REMaST® acts like a ‘bioreactor,’ deploying multiple functions that collectively achieve the results demonstrated by our preclinical data.