Imago BioSciences Announces Preclinical Data on LSD1 Inhibitor at Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH)

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 7, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Imago BioSciences, Inc., a biotech company developing innovative therapeutics for myeloid diseases, today announced a presentation at the 57^th ASH Annual Meeting this week in Orlando, Florida.  The oral presentation titled "Lysine-Specific Histone Demethylase, LSDI (KDM1A) As a Novel Therapeutic Target in Myeloproliferative Neoplasms," outlines the beneficial effects including a reduction in mutant cells and reversal of fibrosis by inhibiting LSD1 in a well-established mouse model of myelofibrosis.

"We are delighted to be a part of the team generating these important data.  These are the first data to implicate LSD1 in the pathogenesis of a myeloproliferative neoplasm disease such as myelofibrosis," said Hugh Young Rienhoff, Jr. M.D., CEO at Imago BioSciences and a co-author of the study. "We are enthusiastic about the potential clinical benefit myelofibrosis patients might enjoy given the unmet need for a medicine that alters the natural history of this vicious disease.  The biology underlying these experiments directly advances our ongoing research and development of LSD1 inhibitors for the treatment of myeloid diseases."

Recent studies have shown that the lysine-specific demethylase LSD1, participates in the balance between hematopoietic cell proliferation and differentiation in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells.  LSD1 appears essential for maintaining malignant myeloid stem and progenitor cells in the undifferentiated and self-renewing state.   

In the experiment presented, mice with myelofibrosis secondary to the activated thrombopoietin receptor (Mpl^W515L) were treated with an oral Imago LSD1 inhibitor.  Treated mice showed reduced splenomegaly, decreased platelet counts, a marked reduction in key cytokines, a resolution of bone marrow fibrosis and a reduction of mutant allele burden over the course of the 4 week treatment period.  These and other unpublished data support LSD1 as a valid drug target in myelofibrosis.  The Imago LSD1 inhibitor will enter the clinic next year.

About Imago BioSciences

Imago BioSciences is a San Francisco-based clinical development company dedicated to translating state-of-the art science into novel medicines for treating diseases that currently pose great challenges to patients, their families and their physicians.  The company leverages the skills and extensive experience of its team and the financial commitment of its investors to focus on a small family of orphan diseases.  Imago BioSciences translates unique insights into high impact transformative therapies that alter the natural history of disease allowing patients to live longer, disease-free lives.  More information is available at www.imagobio.com.

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SOURCE Imago BioSciences

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