New treatment not to be sneezed at

HAY-FEVER sufferers may be glad to know just ahead of the sniffling season that help may soon be at hand from blood-sucking beasts.

Oxford-based biotechnology firm Evolutec is stepping up its human trials with a nasal spray containing an anti-sneeze treatment derived from the saliva of ticks.

American drug regulators have given approval for Evolutec's first wide-reaching trial of its unusual treatment - known at the moment as rEV131 - this spring on 112 patients based in Texas.

The company will use the spray to examine its effectiveness for treating 'mucus production, congestion, sneeze and itch'. Evolutec chief executive Mark Carnegie Brown said he is hopeful of a treatment being on the market by 2008.

Tick saliva contains molecules that suppress normal defence mechanisms. This chemical can be used to stop hay-fever sufferers' usual sneeze response to pollen, which the body believes is a foreign particle.

Results from the trial are expected by the end of the year. Typically, success at this stage-two trial normally focusing on efficacy, triggers stage-three trials looking at further detailed safety aspects with drugs often ready for final approval and sale two years later.

British drug firms seek approval from the US Food and Drug Administration as the precursor to selling a drug worldwide.