Second-Generation Antisense Drugs Show Potential to Treat Asthma

In multiple preclinical studies, second-generation antisense drugs selectively inhibited activity of proteins that promote inflammation and improved a variety of symptoms in mouse models of asthma and chronic lung inflammation, according to data from Isis Pharmaceuticals.

Scientists from Isis and its partners presented data that demonstrate the efficacy of aerosolized second-generation antisense drugs in vivo and the potential of antisense inhibitors as inhaled therapeutics for inflammatory diseases of the lung.

This body of data complements the recent advancement of Isis' first drug to be delivered by aerosol administration into development, ISIS 369645, a second-generation antisense inhibitor of IL4-receptor-alpha to treat chronic asthma.