21-Sep-2004

Emerging Drug Discovery Targets: 21st September

Summary

Emerging Drug Discovery Targets provides a regular summary of some of the most exciting breaking information recently featured by the pharmaceutical analysts, LeadDiscovery. Information includes editorials on recently published journal articles, selected press releases and "intelligence reports". This edition features an LXA4 mimic for the treatment of inflammation; IL-27 as a cancer immunotherapy; anti-CD154 for organ transplant; CRH agonists for the treatment of pain; and an effective therapy

Last Updated: 27-Aug-2010

"Emerging Drug Discovery Targets" provides a regular summary of some of the most exciting breaking information recently featured by the pharmaceutical analysts, LeadDiscovery. Information includes editorials on recently published journal articles, selected press releases and "intelligence reports". Our target audience includes business development personnel, senior management and researchers within the drug development sector as well as bioscience investors and analysts.

Emerging Drug Discovery Targets. To register click here.

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In this weeks edition:

Editorial comment on selected journal articles

PharmaNews Bytes - September 2004
Today's breaking scientific publications for the drug development community

Selected new PharmaReports (for a full listing visit LeadDiscovery's report center)

Berlex researchers develop lipoxin A4 (LXA4) mimics for the treatment of inflammation: Treatments for inflammatory diseases comprise a $20 billion market spanning diseases such as psoriasis, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and inflammatory bowel disease (to view LeadDiscovery's feature on autoimmune/inflammatory disorders click here). Both the prostaglandins and the leukotrienes are involved in the initiation and maintenance of inflammatory responses however agents that center on these mediators have produced limited therapeutic efficacy in various inflammatory disease settings. Harnessing the properties of anti-inflammatory mediators such as lipoxin A4 (LXA4) may offer a better approach. Berlex researchers have exploited this concept, synthesizing ZK-994, a stable and potent LXA4 mimic...[more on these findings]

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IL-27 as an exciting new target for cancer immunotherapy: In 2002 nearly 1,285,000 new cancer cases were diagnosed in the United States, and due to the lack of options for the treatment of advanced disease more than 550,000 Americans died of the disease (for an evaluation of the cancer therapeutics market click here). Immunotherapy represents an emerging approach to the treatment of cancer that promises high specificity with negligible side effects. This approach to cancer treatment commonly involves the stimulation of T cells and antibody production and the use of cytokines has been extensively studied (click here for an evaluation of emerging immunotherapeutics). IL-12 has been shown to be an effective immunotherapeutic cytokine, however severe adverse effects have limited its development. In contrast a recently identified member of the IL-12 family, IL-27 has been shown to prevent tumor progression and induce protective immunity without the adverse effects of IL-12...[more on these findings]

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Development of anti-CD154 monoclonal antibodies for the prevention of transplant rejection: The recent success of monoclonal antibody therapies such as Genentech's Rituxan and Johnson & Johnson's Remicade are driving further development of this field. MAb therapies brought in revenues of over $5.1 billion in 2003, a figure which should nearly triple over the next five years as new MAbs are launched and following the approval of new indications for MAbs already on the market. By 2008, MAbs should account for 32 percent of all revenue in the biotech market (for a full analysis of therapeutic antibodies click here or here). One therapeutic antibody indication under investigation is that of graft rejection. First generation anti-CD154 monoclonal antibodies were found to effectively prevent transplant rejection however development was halted due to the rare occurrence of thromboembolic complications. Novartis researchers have recently demonstrated that these adverse events are related to the blockade of CD154 signaling and are not specific to first generation therapeutics. Further clarification of the mechanism behind these adverse will be necessary before the efficacy of molecules such as ABI793 can be exploited in the clinic...[more on these findings]

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Advances in the development of corticotropin-releasing-hormone (CRH) receptor agonists as candidate analgesics: It has been estimated that 9% of the US population suffers from moderate to severe non-cancer-related pain. Acute pain resulting from conditions such as headache, muscle spasms, dental problems or following surgery, affects 90 million Americans every year and the development of analgesics represents a major pharmaceutical objective (for a comprehensive listing of pain reports click here). A recent study has demonstrated the analgesic activity of corticotropin-releasing-hormone (CRH) and has shown that this activity is probably due to activity within the central nervous system...[more on these findings]

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Fujisawa's FK-866 reduces the growth and vascularization of renal cell carcinomas and also tumor metastasic: Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is a niche cancer that accounts for 2-3% of all solid tumors in the major pharmaceutical markets. Approximately 30,000 patients are diagnosed with the disease each year in the US and 12,000 patients die of the disease annually. The market is currently dominated by the cytokines, but there is significant interest among physicians in the potential of anti-angiogenics, particularly so since renal cell carcinomas are known to be well vascularized (for further information on the development of RCC therapeutics click here). Researchers have now shown in a predictive model of human renal cell carcinoma that Fujisawa's FK-866 is able to reduce angiogenesis and growth of primary tumors. Metastatic progression is also reduced...[more on these findings]

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Developing therapeutic agents for the treatment of early (premature) ejaculation: Early ejaculation represents a major market, and indeed in 18-65 year olds it represents the predominant sexual dysfunction, affecting at least 20% of men. The global annual market for the treatment of early ejaculation has been estimated at $4 billion (for an analysis of male health care markets click here). However due to the absence of readily available therapeutics fewer than 10% of patients seek treatment for early ejaculation. Successful pharmaceutical development in this field may therefore reap immense rewards. Drug development has however been limited by non-standardization of methodologies. Field leaders have now evaluated past clinical studies in order to set down guidelines for improving future trials...[more on these findings]

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