Interleukin-12 Research Alliance Founded

Genetics Institute and American Home Products' Wyeth-Ayerst drugs arm have agreed to form a 50/50 joint venture for the development and commercialization of recombinant human interleukin-12, a promising new immunomodulatory drug. The jv will have a worldwide focus, with the exception of Japan.

Genetics Institute has recently initiated Phase I studies of rhIL-12 to evaluate the product's safety, and it is hoped that the new agreement with Wyeth-Ayerst will hasten the investigation of the compound's potential in cancer, HIV infection and hepatitis.

The effects of IL-12 within the immune system are manyfold, but it is essentially a T-cell regulator. The factor drives the differentiation of naive T helper cells into the Th1 subtype, which in turn produces interleukin-2 and interferon gamma. IL-12 also directly stimulates cytotoxic T lymphocytes (which are also activated by IL-2 and IFN-gamma). Furthermore, IL-12 has a direct stimulatory effect on the proliferation and activation of another lymphocyte class called natural killer cells.