Examination of Witnesses (Questions 260-262)
Professor Tak Lee, Dr Diana Dunstan, Mr Dave Allen
and Professor John Westwick
18 DECEMBER 2006
Q260 Lord Taverne: What new products
are being developed which could have a significant impact on the
treatment of allergic diseases over the next five years?
Mr Allen: I guess the first point is five years
is a very, very short time period in drug discovery; unfortunately
it is more like 15 years to turn basic research into a product
and take it through all the regulatory requirements.
Q261 Lord Taverne: Which end of the
last five years of the 15 year period?
Mr Allen: I will not talk about that, I will
leave that to someone else. There are some very interesting developments
going on in the way that the basic immune cells talk to each other
and the way they respond to different antigens because this is
all about inappropriate immune response. This is not about immuno-suppression,
we are not talking about suppressing the immune system, we are
talking about teasing out some very subtle whispering that goes
on amongst these immune cells. We know the sub-populations of
immune cells which seem to be responsible for a lot of the chemical
messengers and inflammatory mediators which are now associated
with allergy in its broadest form and we are starting to find
mechanisms to impact those in a very, very specific way. I do
not think they are going to do it with medicines in the next five
years, but I think over the next five years you are going to see
early clinical trials on mechanisms which do talk to these very
small populations of T-cells being modified in very specific ways.
That really will be the next generation of therapies for allergy.
Professor Westwick: I agree with what David
said. In terms of what is going on now, you have already heard
about Xolair, the anti-IgE which came out from the laboratories
of Genentech. There are also a lot of other antibodies out there
now in clinical trial for asthma and allergy, antibodies directed
against various cytokines and these are small proteins that are
involved in this allergic response. They are in proof of concept
or Phase II (b) studies right now, so it will be another three
to four years before they will be registrable.
Q262 Lord Taverne: Is there a prospect
of a successor drug to Xolair which would be cheaper because I
gather it is very, very expensive?
Professor Westwick: Yes. First of all, if you
look at all diseases and all pharmaceutical approach, the use
of antibodies is increasing dramatically. It used to be all the
small molecular weight compounds but if you go into all diseases,
antibodies are increasing and particularly so within allergic
mechanisms. The cost of antibodies and the work involved in getting
to the state you need is much more than it is with the low molecular
weight agents. However, having said that, I think where antibodies
are also being used is first of all as a proof of concept that
that particular target is important. A lot of companies are following
behind with some low molecular weight equivalent which can be
usually much cheaper to produce and will come out two to three
years later.
Chairman: I think we are at the end of
our session. Could I thank you very much for coming today. Also,
if there are additional points you would like to make to the Committee,
we invite you to send them in writing to us. We will be sending
you a transcript of the session for you to correct for accuracy.
Thank you very much again and thank you also for the papers you
submitted to us, particularly Professor Lee.
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