Intralymphatic Immunotherapy (ILIT)
ImVisioN is the pioneer of intralymphatic immunotherapy (ILIT ), a proprietary technology for the safe and effective delivery of allergy immunotherapy.
Traditional allergen specific immunotherapy uses subcutaneous injections for the delivery of the allergen. In order to achieve the maximum therapeutic effect (i.e. to induce the strongest immune response possible), immunotherapeutics have to be taken up by antigen presenting cells (APCs), which are mainly located in the lymph system. As a consequence, there is a strong scientific rationale for the delivery of the immunotherapy directly to the lymph nodes, which contain the highest concentrations of APCs.
Intralymphatic administration of immunotherapeutics is expected to have several advantages over other treatment alternatives:
- Improved patient convenience: Intralymphatic Immunotherapy (ILIT ) for allergic diseases will only require administration of 3 injections. This is a vast improvement compared to the 50 to 80 injections with traditional allergen specific immunotherapy.
- Improved safety profile: The adverse events of immunotherapy which are allergic reactions including anaphylactic shock will be significantly reduced due to the route of administration, mode of action and dosage.
- Rapid therapeutic effect: Cure of allergic disease will be achieved within several weeks as opposed to two to five years with traditional allergen specific immunotherapy.
As a consequence, these benefits are expected to result in higher patient compliance and general acceptance and in reduced overall costs of allergen immunotherapy (fewer consultations, reduced use of symptomatic drugs).
Clinical proof of concept
ILIT was recently demonstrated to be safe and efficacious for the delivery of allergen specific immunotherapy in a clinical setting. Patients were either treated with 54 subcutaneous injections (n=54) over a three year period or three intralymphatic injections (n=58) over a two month period. While all patients completed the intralymphatic therapy, only 60% of the subcutaneous patients completed the full course indicating higher patient compliance for ILIT . Patients receiving ILIT also had significantly fewer adverse events (p<0.05) and subjectively found the injections less painful than a venous puncture. The cure of the allergy was also achieved much faster (3 months as opposed to 1 year) and with substantially reduced amounts of the allergen (3,000 SQ-U as opposed to 4,000,000 SQ-U).
IP Position
ImVisioN holds an exclusive license to patents for intralymphatic administration of allergens (licensed from MannKind Corp.), granted in US, Europe and Australia.