Overview Leadership Team Science Advisory Board
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a progressive, usually fatal disease that afflicts 128,000 persons in the United States alone; 48,000 additional persons are newly diagnosed each year and 40,000 die of IPF annually – the same number of deaths as breast cancer (Coalition for Pulmonary Fibrosis). Unfortunately, these patients are confronted with the reality that there is currently no effective treatment for their deadly disease and that normal progression of IPF leads to death for 70% of patients within 5 years of diagnosis.
Researchers from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center reported in the Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine that mortality rates for IPF have increased dramatically in recent years. Between 1992 and 2003, the age-adjusted mortality rate rose by nearly 28.4 percent in men, and 41.3 percent in women. They noted that more people die annually from IPF than a number of malignancies including acute myeloid leukemia, multiple myeloma and bladder cancer.
There are no therapies proven effective against IPF; in fact, Martinez and Noth noted in an article published in CHEST (August 2007) that lung transplantation “remains the only intervention” for IPF. This market clearly needs a safe and effective treatment option.
ImmuneWorks researchers have determined that antigen-specific autoimmunity occurs in approximately 60% of IPF patients. These data suggest for the first time that IPF may not be "idiopathic", rather, it may be due to autoimmunity. Because of these findings, IPF may be renamed as Autoimmune Interstitial Pulmonary Fibrosis (AIPF).
Current immunologic treatments utilized to slow the progression of IPF are severely limited by the very nature of global immune suppression – non-specific suppression of the immune system and significant, treatment-limiting side effects. Conversely, the ideal treatment for autoimmune diseases would target only the implicated auto-antigen.
ImmuneWorks therapeutic approach has the benefit of being antigen-specific. This immune tolerance approach requires 3 key conditions, all of which have been demonstrated by ImmuneWorks :
- A specific antigen is responsible for the autoimmune disease,
- The specific auto-antigen is known, and
- Assays for the specific autoimmune response are available to diagnose patients and follow their progress during treatment
ImmuneWorks is also identifying additional autoimmune diseases that could be treated with its therapy, as well as additional autoimmune diseases where immune tolerance could be successfully deployed. Additionally, the Company is conducting research on alternative delivery modalities (e.g., intranasal, injection) to optimize the tolerizing effect of auto-antigen administration.
For more information about Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis – www.coalitionforpf.org