Anergen Immune Therapy For Diabetes

Anergen has presented preclinical data which demonstrate the effectiveness of its IDDM-AnergiX drug in an animal model of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. The product consists of a soluble form of Major Histocompatibility Complex class II coupled with a synthetic glutamic acid decarboxylase, the enzyme which is suspected as the antigen which stimulates the autoimmune response in the disorder.

Anergen presented the results at the 14th International Immunology and Diabetes Workshop and 1st Meeting of the Immunology of Diabetes Society in Rome, Italy, earlier this month. The preclinical studies were carried out in non-obese diabetic mice, a spontaneous animal model of IDDM. The mice received IDDM-AnergiX in a dosing regimen designed to inactivate, or anergize, the disease-causing lymphocytes, thereby preventing diabetes.

Results of the study showed that treatment with the enzyme alone accelerated the development of disease symptoms, while treatment with IDDM-AnergiX delayed symptoms in a dose-dependent manner. Anergen is developing the drug in collaboration with Novo Nordisk subsidiary ZymoGenetics.