EndoS, Endoglycosidase from Streptococcus pyogenes, is an enzyme that modifies the glycan structure present on antibodies. Nandakumar and collaborators show that antibodies modified by EndoS gains unique anti-inflammatory properties and can potentially be used for the development of novel biopharmaceuticals for the treatment of autoimmune diseases. The study entitled ”Dominant suppression of inflammation by glycan-hydrolyzed IgG” will be published in the May 2013 edition of PNAS and is available at www.pnas.org.

The discovery has been patented by Hansa Medical and the company primarily works with the possibility to enhance the anti-inflammatory properties of IVIG-products.

IVIG (Intravenous immunoglobulin) is a biopharmaceutical product in which the active pharmaceutical ingredient is human antibodies (IgG) purified from blood plasma of thousands of blood donors. IVIG is used as intravenous treatment of immunodeficiency as well as anti-inflammatory treatment of numerous autoimmune diseases and transplant rejection. In 2009 the market for IVIG-products was 5,6 billion USD. IVIG doses being used today for anti-inflammatory treatment are very high (up to 2 grams per kilogram body weight). The Hansa Medical vision for EndoS, in collaboration with major IVIG-producers or on its own, is to create EndoS-processed IVIG-products with enhanced anti-inflammatory effect and reduced dose, which has the potential to significantly lower production costs of IVIG-products per dose.