Therapeutic potential of icatibant

PubMed, the Internet portal of biomedical and life sciences literature, indexed an interesting article, entitled Therapeutic potential of icatibant (Expert Opin Pharmacother. 2008 Sep;9(13):2383-90). Authors are Cruden NL Newby DE from the University of Edinburgh, Centre for Cardiovascular Science, Edinburgh EH164SB, UK. There is now a substantial body of work implicating bradykinin, an endogenous peptide neurohormone, in the pathophysiology of a variety of inflammatory conditions in man. Icatibant (HOE-140, JE-049), a highly selective antagonist at the bradykinin B2 receptor, blocks the vasodilatation and increased vascular permeability associated with exogenous bradykinin administration both in experimental models and in vivo in man. Recent attention has focused on the therapeutic potential of icatibant in a number of human disease states. The most promising of these is hereditary angioedema, in which Phase III clinical trials have recently been completed and regulatory approval is currently being sought in Europe and the USA. To access the full abstract of the article, click here.