Health Boards
Would you swallow the eggs of a pig parasite to help your psoriasis?
Coronado Biosciences Inc Massachusetts, is developing what it hopes will be the first in a new class of treatments for autoimmune conditions such as psoriasis. Each dose of the drug consists of thousands of microscopic parasite eggs, culled from pig faeces, suspended in a tablespoon of saline solution to be swallowed.
In a pig, the eggs would grow into mature whipworms and reproduce, without harming their host. In humans, the same eggs barely survive two weeks. Yet in that short period they appear to modulate a patient's immune system and prevent it from attacking the body's own tissues and organs.
"It has the potential not only to be a drug but to provide insight into the cause of these diseases," said Dr. Joel Weinstock, chief of gastroenterology and hepatology at Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston and an adviser to Coronado.
The company is preparing to enroll 220 patients with Crohn's disease in a midstage clinical trial. Participants will receive either a dose with 7,500 eggs from a pig whipworm or a placebo once every two weeks for 12 weeks.
Coronado's partner, German drugmaker Dr. Falk Pharma GmbH, is conducting a midstage trial of the drug, known as trichuris suis ova (TSO), in Europe. The two companies plan to share data when filing for marketing approval in 2016 or 2017.
The technology behind Coronado's product was developed by Weinstock and researchers at the University of Iowa, where Weinstock was affiliated before Tufts. It is based on the "hygiene hypothesis," which holds that many developed countries have, in some ways, become too clean for their own good.
Millions of organisms, including viruses, bacteria and worms, enter the body through contact with dirt. Researchers believe many of these organisms are needed to train the body's immune system to recognize and fight disease.
Studies have shown that the incidence of autoimmune disease tends to be highest in the developed world, and is highest there among upper-income groups. Weinstock and others hypothesize that the elimination of certain intestinal parasites may have led to the loss in some individuals of a key mechanism for modulating the immune system.
"With the pig whipworm, there is no permanent infection, no real possible side effects," he said.
Sandage said about a third of patients experience some gastrointestinal discomfort, such as diarrhea or cramping, after the first or second dose, though the symptoms typically go away after a day or two.
"What we know from the pig whipworm is that when you give it to people, it is destroyed in the gut," said Fleming. "It doesn't come out, so you have to keep giving it."
Initial results from early trials of the drug in patients with multiple sclerosis are promising, he said, though much more study will be needed to prove efficacy.
Source: reuters.com
Coronado Biosciences Inc Massachusetts, is developing what it hopes will be the first in a new class of treatments for autoimmune conditions such as psoriasis. Each dose of the drug consists of thousands of microscopic parasite eggs, culled from pig faeces, suspended in a tablespoon of saline solution to be swallowed.
In a pig, the eggs would grow into mature whipworms and reproduce, without harming their host. In humans, the same eggs barely survive two weeks. Yet in that short period they appear to modulate a patient's immune system and prevent it from attacking the body's own tissues and organs.
"It has the potential not only to be a drug but to provide insight into the cause of these diseases," said Dr. Joel Weinstock, chief of gastroenterology and hepatology at Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston and an adviser to Coronado.
The company is preparing to enroll 220 patients with Crohn's disease in a midstage clinical trial. Participants will receive either a dose with 7,500 eggs from a pig whipworm or a placebo once every two weeks for 12 weeks.
Coronado's partner, German drugmaker Dr. Falk Pharma GmbH, is conducting a midstage trial of the drug, known as trichuris suis ova (TSO), in Europe. The two companies plan to share data when filing for marketing approval in 2016 or 2017.
The technology behind Coronado's product was developed by Weinstock and researchers at the University of Iowa, where Weinstock was affiliated before Tufts. It is based on the "hygiene hypothesis," which holds that many developed countries have, in some ways, become too clean for their own good.
Millions of organisms, including viruses, bacteria and worms, enter the body through contact with dirt. Researchers believe many of these organisms are needed to train the body's immune system to recognize and fight disease.
Studies have shown that the incidence of autoimmune disease tends to be highest in the developed world, and is highest there among upper-income groups. Weinstock and others hypothesize that the elimination of certain intestinal parasites may have led to the loss in some individuals of a key mechanism for modulating the immune system.
"With the pig whipworm, there is no permanent infection, no real possible side effects," he said.
Sandage said about a third of patients experience some gastrointestinal discomfort, such as diarrhea or cramping, after the first or second dose, though the symptoms typically go away after a day or two.
"What we know from the pig whipworm is that when you give it to people, it is destroyed in the gut," said Fleming. "It doesn't come out, so you have to keep giving it."
Initial results from early trials of the drug in patients with multiple sclerosis are promising, he said, though much more study will be needed to prove efficacy.
Source: reuters.com
ewwwww 
