Drug development
First-in-class drug for sepsis and acute respiratory distress syndrome on the horizon
Researchers at Queen’s University in Belfast are developing a new anti-inflammatory drug that could help treat sepsis and acute respiratory syndrome
Source: Courtesy of Queen’s university, Belfast
Chris Scott from Queen’s University, Belfast, School of Pharmacy
Sepsis is a leading cause of death in hospitalised patients, yet there is no effective treatment. Around 25% of patients with severe sepsis develop acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), driven by an excessive immune response, and up to 30% of these patients will die.
However, a promising new anti-inflammatory drug, SAN101, is described in Science Translational Medicine (online, 2 September 2015)[1]. It is a nanoparticle that targets sialic acid-binding immunoglobulin-like lectins (siglecs) – important negative regulators of acute inflammatory responses.
SAN101 was “therapeutically beneficial” in a mouse model of sepsis and ARDS. Furthermore, it had an anti-inflammatory effect on human macrophages and relieved symptoms of acute lung injury in an ex vivo lung perfusion model. “We are well on the road to developing a new first-in-class treatment,” says Chris Scott, senior author, from Queen’s University Belfast.
Citation: The Pharmaceutical Journal DOI: 10.1211/PJ.2015.20069327
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