Drugs in Space III: Chiron's PEG-IL-2, Schering's Intron A among experiments on board the shuttle Discovery.
Executive Summary
DRUGS IN SPACE III: CHIRON's PROLEUKIN PEG-IL-2 is among the drug compounds that will be tested in SPACEHAB-3 aboard the NASA shuttle Discovery, which launched from the Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 3. The "IMMUNE-2" experiment will test treatment of immune system deficiencies in rats administered Proleukin PEG-IL-2 (polyethylene glycosylated-interleukin-2) as a possible treatment for AIDS and other immunosuppresive diseases. Both IL-2 and PEG-IL-2 are in clinical trials for AIDS. PEG-IL-2, whose duration of effect is 10-fold longer than IL-2, is approved for refractory renal cancer.