Domestic allergen treatments

Kurzfassung

A global household, personal care and OTC (over-the-counter) pharma products group with offices in the UK is currently seeking technologies and agents which inactive allergenic species found in household environments. The company wishes to engage in technical cooperation and/or licensing with companies or academic institutions.

Details

Allergens in the home environment are generally considered as a significant concern to family health and wellbeing. Allergens can cause a range of symptoms, including sneezing, itchy eyes, congested nose and sleep disruption. Effective allergen management will provide a ‘cleaner’ home together with a healthier family environment.

Common household allergens include dust mite allergens, pet dander, mould and pollen particles. Each of these has distinctive physical and chemical characteristics, hence some technologies may be allergen-specific and thus a combination approach may be necessary for effective treatment and symptom relief. In addition, as allergens are prevalent on a range of substrates, including hard surfaces, carpets, soft furnishings, fabrics and for short time frames in the air, different product formats / modes of application are likely to be required.

Successful approaches may take the form of devices (powered or otherwise), chemical/biological neutralisation techniques, physical removal methods or any combination of these.

Appropriate solutions must be compatible with current consumer lifestyles, suitable for use around children / household pets and should preferably not require additional steps in the cleaning / household management regime.

Technical Specifications / Specific technical requirements:
Successful agents and or delivery systems should be suitable for incorporation into formats compatible with intuitive general consumer household usage.

Additional Supporting Data required:

• ELISA test data confirming the activity against mite and (ideally) cat and dog allergens

It would be advantageous to also demonstrate the following:

• Other test showing inactivation of the allergen enzymatic activity
• Human studies showing symptomatic relief in domestic usage.

The materials should also meet the following requirements for incorporation into a consumer product:

1) Compatible with typical Healthcare/Household product packaging e.g. HDPE, PET, and final formulation expected to be stable under global ambient temperature and humidity conditions for a period of 2 years.
2) Have potential for scale up to mass retail markets.
3) Not require storage or handling under special or inert conditions, e.g. under nitrogen or under oil.
4) Actives able to be incorporated into current product processing/production lines using simple batch mixing at room temperature and atmospheric pressure with minimal heating/cooling and no or minimal changes required to current clean-down processes.
5) Not be harmful for human use (not classified or suspected to be a toxin, carcinogen, mutagen, irritating to the human respiratory system) with respect to the concentrations used in the final product. Not harmful to the environment (including not being a photo-reactive volatile organic compound).
6) Ideally offer scope for patent protection with the desired application and format.
7) Must be REACH supported.
8) Must not be sensitizers or allergic triggers.
9) Not produce droplets/particles capable of inhalation.