Therapeutic targets

The class of autoimmune diseases is very large, encompassing more than 30 conditions which include rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and type 1 diabetes, as well as many uncommon diseases like myasthenia gravis.  Typically these are chronic diseases which impose a severely lowered quality of life on their sufferers.  Patient care for these diseases is generally costly in both social and strict economic terms, especially when, as too often, therapeutic options are limited to the palliative.  

A conservative estimate for the current value of worldwide pharmaceutical sales in these segments would be $12bn in 2004, and there remain substantial unmet clinical needs for many autoimmune conditions.  As we learn more about the operation of the immune system and disease processes it is quite likely that autoimmune elements will be confirmed in other diseases.  For example some research has suggested autoimmune elements at work in forms of schizophrenia and in atherosclerosis.

There are many drugs which have some record of success in treating these conditions.  However, these treatments generally only slow the progress of the disease or interfere with the expression of its symptoms.  In many cases effective therapy involves the suppression of whole areas of the immune mechanism throughout the body.

Epidyme is working to provide a new route to dealing with these diseases. We aim to encourage the immune system to readjust itself through its natural control mechanisms, with no loss of general immunity. Therefore a treatment regime based on our technology is likely to have few side effects and will offer substantial quality-of-life benefits compared with existing options.