2023-10-06 18:07:39
A pharmaceutical company dedicated to allergies and immunotherapy, located in Quebec, is looking into a vaccine against cat allergies. Even if the tests on animals are conclusive, clinical trials on patients who are allergic to cats will begin soon and will be decisive on the effectiveness of the vaccine.
It is considered a medical field [les allergies] which is poorly served, at the moment, even though statistics say it, one in three people is allergic, reports Louis-Philippe Vézina, president and CEO of Angany, which is developing this new vaccine.
Treatment already exists to alleviate allergy-related symptoms, such as desensitization, but it does not always work and can take several months or years to become effective.
Current treatments are treatments that are long, because they use allergens to try to create tolerance or desensitization in patients.
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This trial represents a first in humans and will evaluate the allergenicity and immunogenicity of the new vaccine in allergic adult patients.
Photo : Radio-Canada
These treatments can take up to five years, according to Mr. Vézina. His company is trying to make a treatment that could work after three months for people allergic to cats.
How would this vaccine work?
Louis-Philippe Vézina explains that the vaccine, developed by his company Angany, would be very different from that used to treat the flu, for example. It is not administered in anticipation, it is a therapeutic vaccine, he said. It aims to correct a situation that is already underway.
The allergic process is initiated in a patient from the first exposure to allergens. A cat’s allergens, for example, are transported in its saliva, in anything it has licked, such as its hair in particular.
People who are very allergic to cats can walk into a room where there was a cat a week ago, and they will still be allergic. According to Louis-Philippe Vézina, cat allergy is one of the most important respiratory allergies.
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Cat allergies are one of the most common in the country, along with dust mite allergies.
Photo: Getty Images/Kseniya Ovchinnikova
In our vaccine, the allergen is present, but it is presented to the immune system in a very different way from how it is presented in nature, he explains.
His company considers these allergies to be chronic, because people who want to lead a regular life are forced to take treatments to correct the symptoms. The vaccine must reverse this already started state.
Once the vaccine is injected, the immune system will react to protect itself. It will develop antibodies to fight the allergen, to neutralize it, instead of this allergen triggering a panic reaction.
The goal of this vaccine is to direct the immune system to act as a true protective reaction and that the next time it is exposed to the allergen it will produce antibodies to protect itself.
Where are the tests?
Animal tests have already been carried out by Angany, but not yet on humans. The first tests to verify the safety aspect of the vaccine are conclusive. The company has received approval from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for a human clinical study.
This trial will be conducted under the leadership of Professor Stephen Durham and Dr Guy Scadding, two clinical allergy experts from Imperial College London.
The ultimate goal in the field of cat allergy is to find a safe, effective, easy-to-administer vaccine that will not require the lengthy treatment and often suboptimal response that characterizes the traditional desensitization method.
A first dose will be administered, as well as a booster one month later. The patient will be monitored to observe his reactions. The effect is thought to last for six months to a year. Annual vaccines are planned, presumes the CEO at Angany. As for its success, the future will tell us, Mr. Vézina concludes.
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