Synairgen study on IFN-beta for asthma

Southampton, UK-based firm Synairgen, a drug discovery company focused on asthma and chornic obstructive pulmonary disease, has commenced its second clinical study of inhaled interferon beta for the treatment of asthma.

The Phase I study, known as SG004, uses the company's exclusively in-licensed formulation of inhaled IFN-beta and is designed to establish its safety at four different dose levels over a 14-day period in moderate asthmatic volunteers. It follows on from Synairgen's successful single-dose safety study in allergic, non-asthmatic subjects. There is, according to the firm, increasing evidence that IFN-beta is the primary anti-viral protein known to be deficient in asthma and Synairgen's proprietary models of human disease have shown IFN-beta could have a marked anti-viral effect in asthma and COPD. The SG004 study is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2009.

Stephen Holgate, co-founder of Synairgen, said:"we now look forward to establishing a dose range to take into our proof-of-concept Phase IIa trials in asthma and COPD, which are scheduled to start during the 2009/ 2010 winter season."