Boehringer Ingelheim's BIRR 4 Cold Therapy

Studies presented at the 37th Interscience Conference on AntimicrobialAgents and Chemotherapy in Toronto, Canada, have shown that Boehringer Ingelheim's investigational therapy, BIRR4, for the prevention of infection with rhinovirus, reduces symptoms of the common cold by as much as 45%.

Rhinoviruses are responsible for approximately 40% of all colds and are also linked to infections of the middle ear as well as asthma and sinusitis. Although there are more than 100 different strains of rhinovirus, about 90% actually attach to the intracellular adhesion molecule-1 receptor on cells in the nasal lining. BIRR4 is a genetically-engineered soluble form of the ICAM-1 receptor, and is thought to prevent attachment of the rhinovirus to nasal cells.

In the four Phase II placebo-controlled studies, 177 volunteers were dosed six times a day with BIRR4 (in either powder or solution formulations) for a total of seven days, with dosing beginning either seven hours before or 12 hours after infection with the virus.