Mercurna part of EU consortium ‘NANEMIAR’

31 March 2023

We are very pleased to share that our consortium project NANEMIAR is selected for a total funding of nearly €2.7million under the Tackling Diseases call from the Horizon Europe Health programme. The 3-year project will start on October 1, 2023.

The NANEMIAR project aims to develop a new therapy for patients suffering from congenital anemia with the goal to improve their quality of life. Congenital anemias englobe a multitude of birth defects, which are highly complex disorders whose causes are largely unknown and current treatments are often insufficient.

The consortium of this project consists of a promising Dutch SME (Mercurna BV) headed by Dr. van Asbeck -van der Wijst and two partners from the Academia, Dr. Lachaud at CNRS in France and Dr. Pérez-Oliva from IMIB-FFIS in Spain who coordinates the action. The teams are supported by the hematology service of the Virgen de la Arrixaca University Clinical Hospital of SMS, directed by Dr. Moraleda and Drs. Salido and Blanquer.

Together, they will be exploiting mRNA technology to develop a novel targeted nanomedicine that allows for correct production of red blood cells in congenital anemia patients by expression of deficient proteins. Mercurna will focus on targeted delivery of therapeutic mRNA to these cells, the French team will test safety and efficacy of the nanomedicine in anemia mouse models, and the team in Spain will perform ex vivo testing in samples of patients, starting with a proof-of-concept for beta-thalassemia.

For more information, visit www.nanemiar.eu