Wow, now this one caught my eye and heart! The Deal: Selecta Biosciences, Inc, just cut a deal for $900 Million with Sanofi (think Auvi-Q epinephrine auto-injector that will be unveiled mid Janauary) to discover immunotherapies for life threatening food allergies and other allergies! Now we’re talking.
photo courtesy of sodahead.com
The Goal: to result in the development of at least one food-allergy treatment, and possibly two other immunotherapies. The Value (to us food allergy families): the possibility of a therapy to help food allergic adults and children avoid life threatening situations. The more researchers working on my favorite cause the better! I am quite curious to follow this deal and learn about just what kind of immunotherapy will arise.
I am also beginning to ponder how Sanofi will play out in our food allergy world. They are introducing the Auvi-Q this January and will soon (I’m assuming) begin work on an immunotherapy. Could they emerge as a leader in food allergy solutions? Hum, only time will tell.
The Dream: that by the time my son finishes high school, there will be multiple food allergy therapies available to him! That is three and one half years away. Pretty big dream eh? The Reality: from what I understand, the time it generally takes a drug to be developed, worked through clinical trials and then receive FDA blessing is around a minimum of 6 number of years and millions and millions of dollars! Developing a drug is an enormous endeavor. Therefore, my son will probably be close to finishing college when the food allergy immunotherapy might be available!
Here are three links regarding the $900 Million deal between “Selecta Makes 900M Deal with Sanofi and Sanofi (including Selecta’s press release):
[unordered_list style=”red-x”]- Selecta Biosciences, Inc: Press Release, “Selecta Biosciences and Sanofi Sign Global Collaboration to Develop Antigen-Specific Immunotherapies for up to Three Allergy Indications Based on Selecta’s Synthetic Vaccine Particle Technology”
- Mass High Tech: “Selecta Makes 900M Deal with Sanofi“
- Pharmaphorum: “Sanofi Selecta Sign 900M Deal to Develop Food Allergy Therapies“
photo courtesy of transfiguration.org
The Prayer: It works.
One of the hardest things I find about managing both life threatening food allergies and asthma is talking to others. I hate to be the one that might be perceived as demanding, pushing or for asking too much. What I now know, fourteen years later, is that honest, clear information presented with kindness works!..