Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine
About eight percent of the population worldwide suffer from immune-mediated diseases. Almost any organ or tissue can be affected. In most cases, immune-mediated diseases are treated symptomatically with drugs that non-specifically suppress the patient’s immune system. Therapies that eliminate the cause of the disease and, ideally, are individualized are hardly available at present. There is a great need for research, both on pathophysiological issues and on potential therapeutic targets, and Fraunhofer ITEM is addressing this need.
The development, formulation, and mode of delivery of anti-infective substances are current research topics at the institute. The expertise in formulation development is being further expanded and the development and production of anti-infectives for inhaled administration as drug aerosols is being pushed. As far as bacterial infections are concerned, Fraunhofer ITEM has a special focus on the development of manufacturing processes for bacteriophages – in this field the institute is at the cutting edge. Fraunhofer ITEM researchers produce phages as investigational medicinal products and establish models for safety and efficacy testing.
Fraunhofer ITEM has many years of expertise in immunotoxicology and immunopharmacology, centered on the development of biopharmaceuticals and advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) in addition to mechanistic research. The focus here is on diseases of the lungs and airways – especially asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), fibrotic lung diseases, allergies, and infections. For the investigation of immunomodulatory substances and ATMPs, the institute is further developing in-vitro models, innovative testing strategies, and endpoints in toxicity studies. Human organ models and materials from patients play a pivotal role in this context to enable an even better pharmacological and toxicological understanding of the immune mechanisms relevant to humans.
