MedImmune reports asthma therapy is well tolerated

Preliminary results from the Phase I study, conducted to assess the safety and biological activity of the anti-IL-5 receptor MAb, suggest that the antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) enhanced molecule successfully depleted eosinophils, a class of white blood cells implicated in the pathology of asthma and other inflammatory diseases.

In addition to direct depletion of eosinophils, the MAb also aims to neutralize the activity of IL-5, which is believed to play a key role in the growth and development of eosinophils.

“The initial data from this trial suggest that our efforts to not only inhibit the cytokine involved in eosinophil production, but to actually directly deplete eosinophils, may offer a viable therapeutic approach to developing new treatments for patients with asthma,” said Barbara White, MedImmune’s vice president, clinical development, inflammatory disease.

MedImmune and Biowa struck a licensing and collaboration deal to develop and commercialize new inflammatory disease therapies targeting the IL-5 receptor in December 2006. The MAb, developed utilizing BioWa’s Poteligent technology platform for the development of ADCC-enhanced antibodies, has been shown to neutralize IL-5 activity and to deplete eosinophils in preclinical studies. According to the companies, preclinical research also suggests that depletion of eosinophils by inhibiting IL-5 may result in reduced airway inflammation, airway hyper-responsiveness and mucous secretion.