For cat lovers, this is nothing to sneeze at.
Scientists in Switzerland have developed a vaccine that will greatly benefit people with cat allergies.
And here’s the best part: The vaccine is for the cat, not the person who’s allergic.
HypoPet AG, a Swiss-based biotech company, announced that it has developed a vaccine called HypoCat that works by “immunizing cats against their own major allergen” which is known as Fel d 1.
Their findings were published by The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
The Fel d 1 allergen is found in cat dander, and approximately 10% of people in the Western world are allergic to it.
“Our HypoCat vaccine is able to produce high levels of antibodies in cats,” HypoPet CEO Gary Jennings said in a statement. “These antibodies can bind and neutralize the Fel d 1 allergen produced by the animals.”
The vaccine was “well tolerated without any overt toxicity” by the 54 cats tested during a total of four studies.
Jennings told Gizmodo that HypoPet has been in discussions with U.S. drug approval agencies and that it has started conducting clinical trials and laying the groundwork for mass production.
“If all goes as planned then we hope to reach the market in 2022,” Jennings said.
A similar vaccine called HypoDog is in the works for “man’s best friend,” but it’s even further from release than HypoCat.
