The Turku Universities Are Looking to Commercialise a Booster for Allergy Vaccination

​– The two-year funding will give us a chance to find out if the product can be commercialised. For example, we are looking into establishing a new start-up company, says Johannes Savolainen, the Professor of Allergology at the University of Turku.

Savolainen leads the research project together with Reko Leino, who is the Professor of Organic Chemistry at Åbo Akademi. The research group has generated a booster, i.e. an adjuvant, for allergy vaccination and the results of the trials with cell models and animals have been promising. If a functional model is found for the commercialisation of the adjuvant, the next step is to apply for permission for clinical trials.

Booster to Enter the Market in Ten Years at the Earliest

The universities are applying for international patents for the adjuvant, which is a new synthetic glyco-cluster molecule that is based on glycosides. In addition to researching the commercialisation options, Åbo Akademi is continuing the development of the molecule synthesis so that in the future it can be produced in GMP-level synthesis laboratories.

The research group will also continue the animal tests. In the previous tests, an acute reaction was caused to mice with egg white, but because the most notable global allergen is grass, the researchers at Turku are looking for a European partner for conducting animal tests where a chronic inflammatory allergic reaction is caused with Timothy-grass.

– In two years’ time, we will find out if this will work, says Savolainen.

f the research group decides to move forward, the next step is a three-phased clinical trial.

– In developing an allergy vaccination, we are dependent on the cycles of nature, so we can already predict that, if the product is found to be functional and ready for commercialisation, it can be introduced in ten years’ time at the earliest, says Savolainen.

Low Costs Will Hinder Commercialisation

The challenge for commercialising the product is to find a company that is willing to collaborate as the use of the adjuvant would radically cut the costs of the desensitisation treatments. It would cause a loss of income to companies that produce allergens and to countries and organisations whose income is tied to the number of patient visits.

– Nowadays, a desensitisation treatment consists of approximately 50 shots which contain 4 million allergen units. With the adjuvant, the number of shots could be reduced to four and the required amount of allergen units to 100 000, says Savolainen.

Text and photo: Erja Hyytiäinen
Translation: Mari Ratia