La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company's proprietary Tolerance Technology® platform has been developed by the Company to address the underlying causes of life-threatening antibody-mediated diseases. Using this platform, the Company is focused on the discovery and development of novel therapeutics, called Toleragens, designed to suppress the production of specific disease-causing antibodies without affecting the protective functions of the immune system.

Toleragens are therapeutic molecules that consist of a carrier platform that serves as a vehicle for presenting epitopes that are recognized by antibody receptors on the targeted B cell.

Based on well-accepted findings from the scientific literature, when an epitope binds and cross-links the antibody receptors on the B cell in the absence of a T cell signal, the B cell becomes anergic (unresponsive) or becomes tolerized and undergoes a natural form of cell death called apoptosis. In either case, the B cell ceases to produce antibodies.

To date, the Company has developed Toleragens with epitopes made from oligonucleotides (DNA), peptides, and carbohydrates. The Company has shown in animal models of lupus, antibody-mediated thrombosis and xenotransplantation that each kind of Toleragen is able to reduce production of the targeted antibodies and the B cells producing them. Based on these studies, the Company believes it can create Toleragens for a number of diseases.

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