Cat allergy got you in mew-sery? This news may change your life fur-ever.
If you’re one of the hapless souls who were dealt the cruel fate of being a cat person who is allergic to cats, your luck could change thanks to a group of scientists in Switzerland. The research group HypoPet AG announced it has been working on a vaccine that would decrease the presence of Fel d 1, the glycoprotein secreted by cats to which 10 percent of the Western population is allergic.
Roughly three in 10 people in the U.S. are allergic to cats and dogs, with cat allergies being twice as common, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.
This April, Hypocat published results from a study on the vaccine. And it’s this news that the internet has, for reasons lost to the void, started to buzz about again.
The vaccine doesn’t try to desensitize the immune system of people allergic to cats, as other existing immunotherapies like allergy shots do. Rather, it attempts to train the immune system of cats to go after a specific protein, or allergen, that they naturally produce called Fel d 1. It’s supposed to accomplish this trick by hitching a genetically modified version of the protein to a virus-like particle derived from a plant virus (only being a particle, it shouldn’t be capable of causing disease).
“Our HypoCat vaccine is able to produce high levels of antibodies in cats,” writes Gary Jennings, CEO of HypoPet AG, in the statement. “These antibodies can bind and neutralize the Fel d 1 allergen produced by the animals.”
HydroPet plans to discuss bringing its innovation to market with regulators in the United States and Europe. If the company is successful, this vaccine, which would be administered to the allergic owner’s cat, would be life-changing. As the study concludes, cat owners would reduce their risk of developing health issues such as chronic breathing problems, shortness of breath, rashes, and severe asthma. And not to mention, more people would be less likely to rehome their cat. Yay, science!