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Our Commitment to Maternal-Fetal Immunology
Our Commitment to Maternal-Fetal Immunology
Our Commitment to Maternal-Fetal Immunology
Welcome to the Johnson & Johnson Maternal-Fetal Newsroom. Below, please find the latest news and information about our ongoing commitment to develop innovative medicines for maternal-fetal immune-mediated diseases.
To read more about Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine’s progress and accomplishments in other disease areas, please explore our Gastroenterology, Immunodermatology, and Rheumatology.
A MESSAGE FROM OUR MATERNAL-FETAL DISEASE AREA LEADERS
At Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine, we are relentlessly driven to make a difference in the lives of patients and families impacted by immune-mediated diseases. This commitment includes autoantibody diseases, which are caused by pathogenic antibodies made by one’s own body that attack critical organs and tissues. In pregnancy, maternal antibodies (also known as alloantibodies), can attack the organs and tissues of a developing baby with potentially devastating consequences, including fetal death.
Significant unmet need remains for patients around the world living with maternal-fetal diseases mediated by maternal antibodies, such as hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn (HDFN), a rare disease where alloantibodies produced in a pregnant person’s immune system cross the placenta and attack fetal red blood cells, causing fetal hemolysis leading to anemia. These patients need safe, non-invasive solutions to help address the potentially serious health consequences of this disease. Johnson & Johnson is proud to be the only company pursuing clinical development of a new drug candidate in pregnant individuals at risk for severe HDFN, the most serious form of this disorder.
Our approach to targeting autoantibody-driven diseases illustrates the power of Johnson & Johnson’s pathway-centric development strategy. With this approach, we identify diseases driven by a common immune pathway, then pursue targeted novel medicines that can differentially modulate that pathway, enabling us to impact many diseases with a single therapy. Such insights are unlocking opportunities to revolutionize the way we treat maternal-fetal immune-mediated diseases. Building on Johnson & Johnson’s legacy of leadership in immunology innovation, we are pioneering a novel approach to potentially change the course of autoantibody-driven diseases like HDFN.
Keeping patients at the center of everything we do, we are committed to tirelessly pushing the boundaries of science to deliver innovative and transformational approaches for maternal-fetal immune-mediated diseases that restore immune balance and improve the lives of patients and their families.
Learn more about our research below!
Katie Abouzahr, M.D.
Vice President
Autoantibody Portfolio and Maternal Fetal Disease Area Leader
Tom Mickelson
Vice President
Commercial Autoantibody and Maternal Fetal Disease Area Leader
ABOUT HEMOLYTIC DISEASE OF THE FETUS AND NEWBORN
HDFN is a rare autoantibody-driven disease where antibodies produced in a pregnant person’s immune system cross the placenta and attack fetal red blood cells — causing fetal hemolysis leading to anemia.1 The severe form of HDFN, which is categorized as an ultra-rare disease, can lead to life-threatening anemia.2 Today, there are no approved therapeutics for the treatment of HDFN, and pregnancies affected by severe HDFN may necessitate repeated intrauterine transfusions (IUTs). IUTs are invasive, technically complex surgical procedures performed by specialists that may be associated with an increased rate of fetal mortality and premature birth.3 According to the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, in the U.S., it is estimated that up to 80 out of every 100,000 pregnancies are affected by HDFN each year.4
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