The Hunt For Cures: Autoimmune Diseases

• Share

(2 of 2)

The most famous of these are Wyeth-Ayerst's Enbrel, and Remicade, made by a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, which have been in use for roughly two years. Both inhibit a messenger in the inflammatory cascade known as the tumor necrosis factor (TNF). The drugs are more effective than traditional medications, and more likely to retard joint degradation. "The idea that biologics could prove effective against autoimmune disease has been firmly established by the TNF story," says Dr. H. Michael Belmont of the Hospital for Joint Diseases in New York City.

That story, in fact, has inspired trials of nearly two dozen new biotech medicines. IDEC Pharmaceuticals in San Diego, for example, has zeroed in on the interactions between CD4 T cells and APCS to make antibody drugs against lupus and RA. The company's anti-RA antibody selectively switches off T cells involved in autoimmune responses by binding the CD4 molecule on their surfaces. Amgen, of Thousand Oaks, Calif., has a drug that blocks Interleukin-1, another molecule that promotes inflammation.

Thanks to technologies spawned by genomics, the list of potential drug targets is growing rapidly. Human Genome Sciences and Seattle-based ZymoGenetics, for instance, are independently developing drugs to inhibit a newly discovered factor that stimulates B cells and is produced copiously in RA and lupus patients.

Encouraged by these successes, drug companies are starting to turn to the lesser known autoimmune diseases. Remicade, for example, is used to alleviate the intestinal inflammation caused by Crohn's disease, and drugs against the potentially systemic disorders scleroderma and Sjogren's syndrome are well along in clinical trials. None of these treatments is a cure, of course, but anything that can put the brakes on a runaway immune system has to be considered a good start.