Drug to prevent hay fever’s signs shows promise
An experimental biotechnology drug showed promise in preventing, not just treating, the symptoms of hay fever in a preliminary test in people. Speaking at a meeting of biotechnology executives here, officials of Tanox Biosystems Inc., a small, closely held biotech company, said 80% of hay fever patients in a 155-patient trial who were treated with the company’s antiallergy drug reported greatly reduced hay fever symptoms, mostly without any of the side effects associated with standard treatments.
The drug, called CGP-51901, is a man-made antibody that works by ridding the body of a component of the human immune system that is overactive in people with hay fever, asthma and other allergies. Tanox, based in Houston, is developing the antibody drug in collaboration with Ciba-Geigy Ltd. of Basel, Switzerland. Tanox and Ciba-Geigy are in a race with Genentech Inc., the big biotech company in South San Francisco that is testing a similar drug against allergies.
The Tanox and Genentech products, if successful, will represent a step forward in allergy treatment. Most current therapies are limited. People can temporarily reduce symptoms by using palliatives such as antihistamine medicines. Other treatments try to desensitize a person to allergy-causing substances by having small amounts of the substances injected into them over time.
However, such therapy can take many months to kick in — if it works at all — and can cause dangerous allergic reactions.
Tanox’s new drug, instead, targets an immune system component called immunoglobulin E, or IgE. Most people make small amounts of IgE, but people with allergies produce the substance in excess. IgE triggers an allergic reaction — such as swelling, itching or cold-like symptoms — when it comes in contact with allergens, such as pollen. Tanox’s drug works by latching onto the IgE and washing it out of the body.
At the Miami Biotechnology Winter Symposia Conference sponsored by Nature Publishing here, Tanox’s chief scientist said the company believes the drug will have some effect against most types of allergies. The company hopes to begin testing the drug soon against asthma and enter advanced testing against hay fever.
Even if it works, however, the antibody-based drug would have to be injected every few weeks, making its use difficult for some. A representative of Genentech said its drug, called Anti-IgE, is in preliminary tests but no results are being reported yet.
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