About 40 million people in the U.S. are affected by allergic diseases such as hay fever, bronchial asthma, and anaphylactic shock to bee sting and foods.
A common event in the development of several different allergic diseases is the release by mast cells of powerful inflammatory chemicals such as histamine and prostaglandins, resulting in asthma and allergy symptoms. Mast cells and another class of white blood cells called basophils are triggered to release their inflammatory chemicals by the actions of allergens and antibodies of the Immunoglobulin E (IgE) class. IgE becomes bound to mast cells and basophils. IgE, like other antibodies, recognizes specific antigens that in this case are also referred to as allergens, for example ragweed pollen. When the IgE antibodies on the mast cells contact their allergen (e.g., ragweed pollen) the IgE-primed mast cells are triggered to release their powerful inflammatory chemicals.
UBI, by utilizing its proprietary UBITh® Technology, has developed an exciting new anti-IgE therapeutic vaccine for allergy. The UBITh ® allergy vaccine actively elicits site-directed anti-IgE immune responses in recipients and thus intercepts IgE before it can bind to its receptor on mast cells and basophils. This prevents the triggering of histamine release by any allergen. Thus, our anti-IgE vaccine is a single therapeutic product for the desensitization of all IgE/allergen-mediated allergies, with no need to identify the offending allergen and supply allergen-specific immunotherapy. Efficacy of the vaccine has been documented in animal trials. The anti-IgE approach to allergy treatment is far more straightforward than other treatments that intervene after the inflammatory cascade has been generated and must act to block many more biomolecules.
Proof of principle for this immunotherapeutic vaccine has already been established in humans by clinical trials of passively administrated monoclonal antibody products with similar activities (Berg. Asthma, Nov/Dec 2002; 7) and by our own vaccination studies in dogs (Wang et al. Vaccine, 2003; 21: 1580-1590). Those studies provide the scientific basis for a therapeutic vaccine for the treatment of highly prevalent conditions such as hay fever and asthma, and may also represent a novel approach to preventing life threatening anaphylactic reactions to drugs, foods, and bee stings. However, unlike the monoclonal antibody treatment that is of limited availability because it is administered by infusion with a large dose of expensive antibody, our vaccine works by active immunization by simple and infrequent injections with our inexpensive synthetic peptide immunogens. We anticipate that the UBITh® allergy vaccine will be effective and cost effective for the control of seasonal and chronic allergies and allergic asthma. Our simple and effective immunotherapeutic vaccine could be used in conjunction with or replace immunotherapy by allergen desensitization for many allergy sufferers.
The UBITh® allergy vaccine also has the potential for veterinary applications in that large proportions of the cat and dog populations are susceptible to allergic hypersensitivities.
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