Do you know... TGN1412

Categories: Do You Know?
TGN1412 is manufactured by TeGenero, a biopharmaceutical company based in Germany. It is a monoclonal antibody drug, and was designed to target a specific human protein involved in several diseases. Animal studies and clinical data has suggested that the drug could benefit patients with incurable chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, and others with auto-immune diseases such as multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis. These conditions are caused by the body's immune system attacking itself.

TGN1412 was designed to target the CD28 protein on a subset of immune system cells called T cells. The antibodies in the drug get into the bloodstream, seek out the immune cells, and then latch on to them. Most antibody treatments work by shutting down biological reactions, but TGN1412 is designed to do the opposite - activate the T cells. It was thought the drug would over-stimulate the rogue T cells, making them burn out and die.

The only known 'side-effect' is the temporary increase in size of the lymph nodes. Other than this, it has been shown to be safe when tested on rabbits and monkeys. There were no drug related side effects and there were no drug related deaths despite administering doses up to five hundred times the dose to be used in the phase I clinical trial (first human test).

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