The company has reported encouraging results achieved in an animal model of asthma with the inhaled form of an antisense compound targeting the VLA-4 molecule.  VLA-4 is an immune cell adhesion molecule thought to be involved in diseases like asthma.
 
Experimental studies showed that the delivery of an antisense drug against VLA-4 via inhalation to the lung significantly suppressed the key asthma indications in allergen sensitised mice at very low inhaled doses, pointing to the potential new indication for ATL1102 as an inhaled treatment for asthma.  The data was presented at the 2005 American Thorasic Society Meeting and Annual Scientific Meeting of the Thorasic Society of Australian and New Zealand.

The existing data package that has been developed to date on ATL1102 for MS (an injection formulation), including some animal toxicology studies and Phase I human studies, will support the clinical development of ATL1102 as an inhaled drug in patients with asthma.