Press Release Source: Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Today's News On The Net - Business Wire's full file on the Internet
Nature Medicine Article Highlights Development of Regeneron's Cytokine Trap Technology
Thursday December 19, 8:42 am ET
Regeneron Provides Details on Engineering and Characterization of Potent Cytokine Traps
TARRYTOWN, NY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 19, 2002-- Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: REGN - News) describes the development of the Company's Cytokine Trap technology in a paper that will appear in the January 2003 issue of Nature Medicine and is currently available online. Regeneron's Cytokine Traps are based on a novel and proprietary technology that generates very potent blockers for many cytokines and growth factors. Blocking such targets is a proven therapeutic approach. The Company's Interleukin-1 Trap is in a Phase II trial for rheumatoid arthritis, and a dual Trap that blocks both Interleukin-4 and Interleukin-13 is in a Phase I trial for asthma and allergy. Regeneron also has a growth factor Trap, the VEGF Trap, in a Phase I trial for cancer.
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Cytokines and growth factors are "protein signals" secreted by one cell, which then elicit responses from neighboring or distant cells. Excess production of particular cytokines and growth factors appear to be involved in a variety of diseases. For example, both Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) and interleukin-1 (IL-1) have been shown to initiate inflammation, and excess levels of these cytokines contribute to chronic inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. Excess levels of other cytokines, specifically IL-4 and IL-13, skew the immune response and are thought to lead to the development of allergies and asthma. Thus, inhibiting excess levels of cytokines and growth factors in disease settings may provide important therapeutic benefits.
Cytokines and growth factors elicit responses by binding to and activating antenna-like structures, known as "receptors", on the surface of target cells. In many cases, to bind tightly to the target cell surface, cytokines and growth factors need to engage two distinct receptor components. In the current Nature Medicine article, Regeneron describes a general approach for incorporating the two necessary receptor components into a single Trap that binds a cytokine or growth factor very tightly. The soluble Trap can therefore sequester a cytokine or growth factor before it can bind to its receptor on a target cell and induce disease activity. Traps have the benefit of very long circulation in the body, potentially allowing for weekly or less frequent dosing in patients.
In the current paper, Traps targeting IL-1, IL-4 and IL-6 are described, and each of these Traps is believed to be the most potent blocker for its target cytokine that has been described. The paper also discusses how these Traps provide benefit in models of human disease, such as arthritis and asthma. Regeneron has three issued United States patents that broadly cover the design and production of its Cytokine Traps and pending patent applications directed to its VEGF Trap technology.
"Our Trap technology provides a turnkey method to create a stream of potential therapeutic candidates against cytokines and growth factors that might be involved in a variety of human diseases. The favorable properties and clinical activity we have already observed in human trials with the IL-1 Trap provide a basis to suggest that other Traps may be useful as well," noted Neil Stahl, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, Biomolecular Sciences and Preclinical Development at Regeneron, and senior author of the paper.
"Not only do the Traps provide for a new generation of therapeutic candidates addressing a wide variety of human diseases, but they may be representative of the next stage of biotech evolution," added George D. Yancopoulos, M.D., Ph.D., President of Regeneron Research Laboratories and Chief Scientific Officer at Regeneron, and a co-author of the paper. "Future biotechnology products may, in many cases, no longer involve a single gene product. Rather, like the Cytokine Trap, they will be created by the engineering of multiple genes that are combined to enhance or alter their function in order to provide the maximum therapeutic benefit." |
