Synairgen Regulatory News (SNG)

22 Mar 2005 07:00

Synairgen plc22 March 2005 SYNAIRGEN PLC RESEARCH IDENTIFIES POTENTIAL NEW THERAPY FOR ASTHMATICS TO COMBAT COLDS Novel use of Interferon-ss to treat or prevent virus-induced asthma attacks Southampton, UK - Synairgen plc ('Synairgen' or the 'Company'), the drugdiscovery company focused on identifying the underlying causes of, andtreatments for, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ('COPD'),announced today that a team, led by Synairgen's Founders, Professors StephenHolgate and Donna Davies at the University of Southampton, has published newdata in the Journal of Experimental Medicine identifying a potential noveltreatment to reduce virus-induced asthma attacks or exacerbations. The common cold virus or rhinovirus is a major trigger of asthma symptoms,frequently leading to hospitalisation. The team at Southampton has investigatedthe underlying mechanisms behind this and observed a difference in virusreplication between lung epithelial cells from asthmatic and healthy controlsubjects. Furthermore, the team has identified a deficiency in the production ofinterferon-ss (a chemical messenger and a therapy prescribed for the treatmentof multiple sclerosis (MS)), which triggers normal programmed cell death(apoptosis) of infected epithelial cells. This deliberate sacrifice reducesviral replication, thereby reducing the spread of virus within the lungs. The data from this in vitro work showed that viral replication increased around50 fold in asthmatic bronchial epithelial cell cultures compared to healthycontrols. Treating the cells with interferon-ss normalised the asthmatic cells'response to rhinovirus infection. The results suggest that inhaled interferon-sscould be used in the treatment or prevention of rhinovirus-induced asthmaattacks. Synairgen has exclusively licensed this discovery, for which a patentapplication has been filed by the University of Southampton, and has aproprietary programme to develop interferon-ss as a therapy for asthma. Professor Stephen Holgate said, "The common cold virus, or rhinovirus, is amajor trigger for asthma symptoms, frequently leading to hospitalisation ofsufferers. Eight out of ten asthma attacks in children and four out of ten inadults are triggered by viral infections, such as colds or flu. The cost to theNHS of hospitalisation for asthma sufferers in general is over £850 million peryear." A copy of the paper is available via the Journal of Experimental Medicinewebsite: http://www.jem.org. -Ends- For further information, please contact: Synairgen Tel: 02380 512 800Richard Marsden Hogarth Partnership Tel: 020 7357 9477Melanie Toyne-SewellGeorgina Briscoe Notes to Editors 1. Background to the CompanySynairgen was founded by Professors Stephen Holgate, Donna Davies and RatkoDjukanovic (the 'Founders'), a world-renowned respiratory research team from theUniversity of Southampton (the 'University'), and spun-out from the Universityin June 2003, supported by funding from IP2IPO Group plc. In October 2004 theCompany floated on AiM, raising £10.0 million (£9.0 million net of expenses) toenhance its research and development capabilities and invest in its proprietaryprogrammes. Synairgen seeks to commercialise a number of drug discovery opportunities,through its own internal research programmes and those that have been carefullyselected from the wider range of research projects led by the Founders in theiracademic roles, and which offer out-licensing opportunities. The Group intendsto out-license its IP at an early stage (pre-Phase II) rather than committingsignificant capital resources to late-stage clinical trials. Since June 2003, the Company has made significant progress: two proprietaryprogrammes in the field of asthma have been initiated and the Company has signedfour agreements with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including MerckFrosst (affiliate of Merck & Co Inc), Cambridge Antibody Technology and CentocorInc (part of Johnson and Johnson). Synairgen is currently discussing furthercollaboration agreements. 2. AsthmaAccording to the World Health Organisation, between 100 and 150 million peoplearound the globe suffer from asthma and this number is rising. Asthma prevalencein the UK is now 3-4 times higher in adults and 6 times higher in children thanit was 25 years ago, and currently it accounts for 1,400 deaths in the UK peryear. In the United States, there are approximately 17-20 million sufferers andthe cost is estimated to be about $13 billion per annum. There are limitedtherapies available for severe asthma and the potential for treatmentssatisfying this largely unmet need is significant, as demonstrated by theprojected sales of $3.3 billion in 2012 for Xolair(R). 3. COPDCOPD encompasses a number of diseases, including the smoking-related lungdiseases, chronic bronchitis and emphysema. The prevalence of COPD is estimatedat 16-17% in the US and Europe. Globally it is killing 2.7 million people perannum and is forecast to become the third largest cause of death in the world by2020. COPD is underserved by current treatments. Sales of pharmaceutical products used to treat asthma and COPD in majorpharmaceutical markets in 2002 were estimated to be $7.0 billion and $2.7billion respectively and are forecast to reach $12.8 billion and $5.8 billion in2012. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange