Breakthrough in lung disease closer to reality thanks to new licence agreement

The deal will see the further development and advancement towards the marketplace of the drug SNG001 (inhaled interferon beta) developed by Synairgen based on research conducted by the University of Southampton, supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Southampton Respiratory Biomedical Research Unit and Southampton NIHR Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility based at University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust.

“This is a major milestone, which clearly validates the research of Synairgen and the University of Southampton, with the potential to have a positive effect on the lives of millions of asthma and COPD patients around the world,” says Richard Marsden, Chief Executive of Synairgen. “Both Synairgen and the University of Southampton are at the cutting edge of respiratory research internationally. We’re immensely proud that the development of SNG001 has the potential to offer a step-change in the treatment of severe asthma, and possibly COPD”.

“AstraZeneca is one of the world’s leaders in respiratory research and following the success of our own clinical trials we knew that the next phase of development depended upon an industry partner of this magnitude, breadth and track-record in respiratory medicines development to progress SNG001 to the market” Marsden continued.

Synairgen is a drug discovery company focused on identifying, developing and out-licensing pharmaceutical products, which address the underlying causes of asthma and COPD. It was founded in June 2003 by world-renowned asthma scientists from the University of Southampton, Professors Stephen Holgate (pictured), Donna Davies and Ratko Djukanovic .

Two years ago, Synairgen successfully completed a series of clinical trials of SNG001, which is designed to protect asthmatics from respiratory virus infections, principally the common cold, that can spread to the lung and are a major cause of exacerbations (marked deterioration in symptoms). AstraZeneca will now take the drug’s development to the next level through further clinical trials and forward to the market.

Professor Stephen Holgate CBE, leading international asthma specialist at the University of Southampton and co-founder of Synairgen says “When we announced the results of our clinical trials of SNG001, we recognised that this was a potentially exciting treatment for asthma and COPD, and certainly the most exciting development from our research, to date. The early work, prior to Synairgen’s formation was supported by grants from the Medical Research Council (UK), Asthma UK, the British Lung Foundation, the AAIR Charity and the National Institute for Health Research at the University of Southampton, and with its strong track record for respiratory research it is satisfying that AstraZeneca are taking this forward.”