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Reportlinker Adds Immunotherapies and Vaccines for Nontraditional Indications
Executive Summary
The earliest immunotherapies were vaccines that stimulate the immune system's response against infectious agents, providing protection against those diseases. Vaccines and immune globulin preparations (passive immunotherapies) have been used for many years to enhance the immune system's response against infectious diseases. More recently, a number of monoclonal antibodies have been commercialized for treatment of cancer, and a number of active immunotherapies and vaccines that stimulate the immune response against cancer are being developed. These applications of immunotherapy focus on the benefits of the immune system when it is working correctly, and the potential beneficial therapies that may be developed by enhancing the immune response.
In contrast, sometimes a person's immune system goes awry, either attacking the person's own body, or overreacting or producing exaggerated response to a foreign substance that is normally harmless to most people. In these situations, therapies are needed to suppress or modulate the unwanted immune response. Therapies that suppress or modulate the immune response are currently available. More are being developed for treatment of autoimmune diseases, treatment of allergies, or prevention of transplant rejection.
These are the most well-known applications of immunotherapies and vaccines that enhance the immune system. However, many other applications are possible. Research and development of immunotherapies for these other indications has been progressing for many years, even though this effort has not received the public attention that the work on infectious disease and cancer immunotherapies and vaccines has seen. This report discusses many of these other applications of monoclonal antibodies, therapies derived from antibodies, vaccines, and therapies that modulate the immune response for treatment of a wide range of disorders and diseases.
Some of the emerging therapies discussed in this report have been developed for treatment of diseases that are caused by the immune system including inflammatory diseases (diseases resulting from the immune response) and also disorders resulting from changes in the complement system. However, there are also other disorders included in this report that are not immune-mediated diseases or the result of the immune response. For these disorders, antibodies are being used as tools to block targeted proteins that have a role in the disease process. These antibodies may be delivered passively, or they may be generated by the patient's own body in response to a vaccine.
Chapter 2 discusses the progress in developing immunotherapies and vaccines for treatment of Alzheimer's disease. Several immunotherapies that target beta amyloid are in development, including both monoclonal antibodies and vaccines. The most advanced is bapineuzumab, which is in Phase III development by Wyeth and Elan. In this chapter, the pathophysiology, epidemiology, and current therapy of Alzheimer's disease are discussed. This is followed by a section that discusses why companies are developing antibodies and vaccines for treatment of Alzheimer's disease. The next section of Chapter 2 discusses many of the emerging immunotherapies for Alzheimer's disease that have reached clinical development. Even more emerging immunotherapies for this indication are included in a table that accompanies this section. The final section of this chapter discusses business considerations for companies that are developing immunotherapies for treatment of Alzheimer's disease.
Similar sections are included in each of the subsequent chapters about different disease indications. Chapter 3 discusses immunotherapies that are being developed for treatment of two different addictions: nicotine and cocaine. With these immunotherapies, antibodies are either passively administered or are produced by the patient's body in response to a vaccine. The antibodies then bind to either nicotine or cocaine, creating a large molecule that cannot be transported across the bloodbrain barrier. Immunotherapies are being developed for a wide range of different neurological indications, and several of these additional indications are discussed in Chapter 4 and/or are included in a table of therapies in development that accompanies Chapter 4. These additional neurological conditions include pain, multifocal motor neuropathy, treatment of pain in dental patients undergoing third-molar extraction, treatment of ankylosing spondylitis, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic low back pain, endometriosis, the pain associated with cancer that has metastasized to the bone, blocking a protein that inhibits axonal regeneration (for treatment of stroke), and Parkinson's disease.