Synairgen enrolls first subject in phase 1 inhaled interferon-Beta trial for cold-induced asthma

By E. Janene Geiss

Philadelphia, Nov. 15 - Synairgen plc announced Tuesday that it enrolled its first subject in a phase 1 clinical trial to assess the safety and tolerability of inhaled interferon-Beta to reduce asthma exacerbations caused by the common cold.

Asthma costs the U.S. health care industry $16 billion annually, including $4.1 billion in emergency room visits and in-patient care, according to a company news release.

The rhinovirus, or cold virus, is the most common trigger for the worsening of asthma symptoms, and Synairgen said there is no effective treatment for cold-induced episodes. Genentech's Xolair is the first drug aimed primarily at allergy-induced asthma.

If successful, the planned trials, which build on successful data derived from its proprietary in vitro models of the disease, Synairgen's inhaled IFN-Beta will provide the first line of defense for many asthmatics, company officials said.

"Asthmatics live on a knife edge fearing an exacerbation. Our models of human disease have shown that asthmatic airways produce little or no IFN-Beta, which acts as a defense against the virus's ability to replicate. This has led us to develop an inhaled IFN-Beta program and we hope to demonstrate the utility of this approach in a proof of concept study of therapeutic efficacy which will follow these safety studies," Stephen Holgate, an academic founder and non-executive director of Synairgen, said in the release.

The study will be conducted at the University of Southampton and will include 27 subjects. Results will determine the extent of further safety studies needed, officials said.

Injectable IFN-Beta is used to treat multiple sclerosis, and various forms are marketed by Biogen IDEC Inc., Schering AG, Pfizer Inc. and Serono SA.

Southampton, U.K.-based Synairgen is a drug discovery company focused on the underlying causes of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.