Overview
MELEMA Pharma is a private biopharmaceutical company that develops derivatives of natural substances for the immunotherapeutic treatment of cancer and for the activation of the immune system.
The company was founded in 2013 and develops its substances in collaboration with partners from academia, hospitals, and industry. Before the products are brought into partnerships, the company brings its substances through preclinical and clinical development to proof of effectiveness in humans. The conclusion of possible partnerships is conceivable at every stage of development.
The most advanced product of MELEMA is ME-503, a new active ingredient with cytolytic/cytostatic and immunotherapeutic activity that triggers programmed cell death (apoptosis) of tumor cells and activates immune functions against cancer cells.
History
MELEMA Pharma GmbH was founded in 2013 after taking over the programs of CYTAVIS BioPharma GmbH. CYTAVIS was previously involved in the pharmaceutical, pre-clinical, and clinical development of MP-503.
Management
Olaf R. Schneider, CEO (o.schneider@nullmelemapharma.com)
is the CEO of MELEMA Pharma GmbH. Mr. Schneider has acquired a wide range of expertise in business developement and business structuring by working for a management consultancy and a private equity fund with a strong focus on biotech and health care.
Dr. Hans Lentzen, Wissenschaftlicher Geschäftsführer (h.lentzen@nullmelemapharma.com)
is the Chief Scientific Officer of MELEMA Pharma GmbH. He is pharmacist and pharmacologist and has more than 20 years of management experience in the R&D area of the pharmaceutical and biotechnological industry. He was the former Head of the R&D Division of MADAUS AG, Cologne, and is one of the founders of MELEMA. In January 1999, he was awarded the ”Cologne Innovation Prize 1998” for the idea, the concept as well as the research and development work on the Aviscumine project.
Cooperations
With Professor Dr. Ulrike Naumann, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, Dept. Vascular Neurology, Laboratory for Molecular Neuro-Oncology at the University of Tübingen and Professor Dr. Michel Mittelbronn, National Center of Pathology (NCP) & Luxembourg Center of Neuropathology (LCNP) of the Laboratoire national de santé (LNS), Dudelange / Luxembourg, in-vitro and in-vivo studies (mouse model) on the effect of ME 503 on destructing invasive growth of glioblastoma are ongoing.
Professor Peiying Yang, Ph.D., Department of Palliative, Rehabilitation, and Integrative Medicine, The University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston / Texas, is carrying out in vivo studies on the effectiveness of ME-503 and its mechanism of action.
As part of a service agreement between MELEMA and Lonza, studies on the influence of ME-503 on DC and T cell stimulation were completed. The analysis of such T cell responses is a frequently used tool to control the activation of the immune system
About Lonza
Lonza is one of the world’s leading and most renowned suppliers for the pharmaceutical, biotech, and specialty chemical markets. More information is available at www.lonza.com.