Thursday August 16, 7:01 am Eastern Time
Press Release
SOURCE: InterMune, Inc.
InterMune to Develop Compound for the Treatment and Prevention of Pseudomonas Infections
Company Accepts Humanized Monoclonal Antibody From Protein Design Labs
BRISBANE, Calif., Aug. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- InterMune, Inc. (Nasdaq: ITMN - news) today announced that it has accepted a humanized monoclonal antibody targeted against the PcrV protein of the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The monoclonal form of the antibody was developed by a team of researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and the University of California, San Francisco, and was then humanized under an agreement with Protein Design Labs, Inc.
``The successful humanization of the PcrV antibody marks a significant milestone in InterMune's development of a product to prevent Pseudomonas infections,'' said Woodruff Emlen, M.D., Vice President of Scientific Affairs at InterMune. ``We are now prepared to begin manufacturing and toxicology testing and will work toward moving the program into the clinic by the end of next year.''
Pseudomonas aeruginosa often affects hospitalized patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia, burns, low white blood cell counts and cystic fibrosis. The target of the humanized monoclonal antibody, PcrV, is a protein of the type III secretory system of Pseudomonas aeruginosa that facilitates the virulence, or disease-causing ability of these bacteria. There are approximately 664,000 patients placed on ventilators in the United States each year and approximately 150,000 of these patients develop ventilator-associated pneumonia.
In May 2001, significant new research was published in ``The Journal of Infectious Disease'' that directly links expression of the PcrV protein to increased mortality rates in patients infected with strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Mortality among patients whose Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains express the PcrV protein was 22% (16 of 78) compared with 3% (1 of 34) among patients whose strains did not express the PcrV protein.
``The confirmation that expression of the PcrV protein is a major determining factor for mortality of patients with Pseudomonas aeruginosa will be very important in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of these deadly infections,'' said Dara W. Frank, Ph.D., Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at the Medical College of Wisconsin. ``We are pleased that InterMune is taking our work forward and believe that it has great potential to benefit patients.''
The efficacy of targeting PcrV was first demonstrated in an animal model of Pseudomonas aeruginosa pneumonia by investigators at the Medical College of Wisconsin and the University of California, San Francisco and was reported in the journal ``Nature Medicine'' in April 1999. Recognizing the potential of this antibody, InterMune initiated a collaboration with the two universities that led to the development of a mouse monoclonal antibody that was effective against the bacterial pneumonia. |
