Omeros has published research on mannan-binding lectin-associated serine protease-2 (MASP-2) in the April 18, 2011 early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Wilhelm Schwaeble, Ph.D., professor of immunology at the University of Leicester and the senior author of the paper, led an international team of researchers who demonstrated that blocking MASP-2 function significantly reduces tissue damage caused by ischemia-reperfusion injury.

Schwaeble and his colleagues demonstrated in animal models of cardiac and gastrointestinal ischemia-reperfusion injury that inhibition of MASP-2 function blocked the excessive inflammatory response, resulting in significantly less tissue damage.

MASP-2 is a key component of the innate immune response and its inhibition could potentially provide a novel approach to treating other inflammatory disorders, including neuropathy and other complications of diabetes, age-related macular degeneration and autoimmune disorders.  Omeros holds worldwide exclusive intellectual-property rights related to MASP-2, the antibodies targeting MASP-2 and the therapeutic applications for those antibodies from the University of Leicester, from its collaborator, Medical Research Council at Oxford University, and from Helion Biotech ApS.