Professor David Garrod of Manchester’s Faculty of Life Sciences said the research, which was recently shortlisted for the Northwest Regional Development Agency’s Bionow project of the year, takes a completely new approach to the treatment and prevention of allergies.
“The technology is based on our earlier discovery of how allergens, the substances that cause allergy, enter the body through the surface layer of cells that protect the skin and the tubes of the lungs,” he explained.
“The drugs we are developing – called allergen delivery inhibitors (ADIs) – are designed to disable these allergens so they can no longer eat through the protective cell layer and block the allergic reaction before it occurs.”
Professor Garrod also said that work on the first ADI chemical was well advanced and that potential drugs could enter clinical trials as early as 2010. If successful, the drug would treat established symptoms already found in adult sufferers and, in due course, could be used to prevent allergies in children.
The study has already received nearly GBP450,000 from the Wellcome Trust but up to GBP3 million will be needed to develop the drugs to the clinical trials stage. With this in mind, Professor Garrod is now seeking investment to take the research to the next stage of development, and into a market potentially worth $26 billion.