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2008 is a decisive year for the validation of the asthma target interleukin-13
Results of two major phase II studies in asthma expected during 2008 will be a GO/NO GO milestone for the field of interleukin-13 (IL-13) antagonists

15 Feb 2008 - The Business Intelligence firm La Merie S.L. reported that during the year 2008 results of major phase II studies in asthma with two different interleukin-13 antagonistic antibodies are expected which will be decisive for the validation of a hot target. Interleukin-13 is regarded to have a central in the development of allergic asthma, mediating airway inflammation, obstruction and hyper-reactivity.
 
IL-13 has attracted great interest as a target for injected or inhaled biologics, including antibodies, proteins, peptides, antisense and small interfering RNA (siRNA). There are at least 6 clinical stage direct or indirect IL-13 antagonists in active development. All of them are pursuing asthma as the clinical lead indication. Further two companies are close to phase I. These results and more were found in a search and analysis conducted by La Merie Business Intelligence and published on February 11, 2008.
 
Clinical information obtained so far from the various IL-13 antagonists indicates that neutralization of the effects of IL-13 appears to be safe and well tolerated and shows signs of clinical activity in asthma. There are various approaches to neutralize the effects of IL-13: by directly binding to IL-13 and, thus preventing the cytokine to bind to its receptor and induce signalling; by blocking one of the two receptor subunits to which IL-13 binds (the IL-13 receptor alpha and the IL-4 receptor alpha which share a common subunit for binding of IL-13).