For Patients
Sana is a science-driven, patient-centric company filled with employees who wake up everyday focused on advancing potentially curative medicines for people in need. We know that we must act with urgency and care in moving forward our therapeutics.
Sana is committed to partnering with patient communities and incorporating your perspectives to help drive research and inform decision-making to bring effective treatments to patients by:
SC451 is a hypoimmune (HIP)-modified, stem-cell derived pancreatic islet cell therapy that Sana is advancing toward the clinic for the treatment of patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D). SC451 is manufactured from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which are cells (like skin or blood cells) that have been genetically reprogrammed so that they can mature into any cell type in the body. Sana then uses its proprietary HIP platform to make modifications so that these cells can evade immune detection and rejection. The modified cells are subsequently differentiated to turn into insulin-producing islet cells.
Sana is developing SC451 with the goal of creating a broadly accessible single treatment for patients with T1D, leading to long-term normal blood glucose without the need for insulin injections or immunosuppression. Sana expects to file an investigational new drug application (IND) and begin a Phase 1 clinical trial for SC451 as early as 2026.
When cells or tissues from outside of a patient’s body are transplanted into a patient, the patient’s immune system recognizes these cells or tissues as foreign, causing the immune system to attack and kill the cells before they are able to carry out their intended function. As a result, patients receiving cell or tissue transplants typically require treatment with medicines that suppress the activity of the immune system, which enables transplanted cells or tissues to survive and function. Treatment with these immunosuppressive medicines can lead to significant side effects, including a reduced ability to fight infections or cancer.
Sana’s hypoimmune (HIP) platform was developed to address this challenge. The HIP technology is designed to generate cells that can evade the patient’s immune system to enable the transplantation of allogeneic cells without the need for immunosuppression. Sana is applying the HIP technology to develop therapeutic candidates at scale, including using pluripotent stem cells, which can then be differentiated into multiple cell types, such as pancreatic islet cells. Sana and its collaborators have generated significant foundational intellectual property in the area. Early clinical data from Phase 1 trials and preclinical data published in peer-reviewed journals demonstrate across a variety of cell types that transplanted HIP-modified cells are able to evade both the innate and adaptive arms of the immune system while retaining their activity.
