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Auto-immune diseases occur when parts of the immune system mistakenly recognise the body's own tissues as being foreign, resulting in an inflammatory response and tissue destruction. An estimated 350 million or 5% of people worldwide suffer from debilitating auto-immune diseases including: multiple sclerosis, Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes, Crohn's Disease, ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and lupus.
Few auto-immune diseases can currently be cured. Therapy is directed at repressing inflammation to relieve symptoms and to slow tissue damage.
Apollo Life Sciences works on discovering treatments that target signalling molecules that mistakenly activate the immune system. This work will often create secondary opportunities to develop treatments for the full range of auto-immune diseases and for other inflammatory disorders such as arthritis, allergy and infection.
Apollo’s pipeline of therapeutic products includes treatments for:
Psoriasis affects 3% of the western population and tens of millions of people in Asia. The disease involves a severe skin rash that can seriously affect health and quality of life and is rarely completely cured. An overreaction in the immune system causes numerous white blood
cells to enter the upper layers of the skin, leading to an over-growth of skin cells and the appearance of raised lesions. Psoriasis treatments are typically palliative rather than curative (that is, reducing discomfort rather than eliminating the condition). They are often required for a period of years and often entail unwanted side effects. Apollo’s treatment, in the form of a cream, is likely to have fewer side effects. More…
Rheumatoid arthritis affects around 1% of the world’s population. It causes chronic inflammation of the joints and can affect multiple organs in the body. This condition is rarely completely cured and treatments are often required for a lifetime. The most effective treatments now available are relatively expensive. Apollo’s treatment is expected to cost less per effective dose than existing treatments because of better capacity to dampen inflammation. The Apollo drug will also be optimised for extended serum half-life and increased effectiveness, which should mean fewer injections are needed, less often. More…
Multiple sclerosis affects around 20,000 people in Australia and 400,000 in the United States. The disease is a long-term, paralysing auto-immune disorder that affects the central nervous system. There is a need for treatment that can be tolerated for longer periods, and entails fewer side effects. Apollo’s product is expected to be more effective because the body is likely to produce a less substantial immune reaction against it, since it is a human protein. More… |