One of the hardest things an animal lover can endure is being allergic to the animals that they’re so in love with. Animal allergies prevent millions of individuals from experiencing the joys and comfort that owning a pet brings. Cats are one of the most common pets that people find themselves unfortunately allergic to and scientists have been working effortlessly and quietly for the past few years on coming up with a solution to this problem. The good news is, they think they cracked the code, the bad news, it might not be available to the public for another couple of years. 

The potential vaccine has been developed by scientists working with the brand Hypocat, which is based in Switzerland. Hypocat  researched, performed initial trials, and developed an actual vaccine for cats. The whole study was recently published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, which is a public medical journal that many have already been posting about, causing a largely positive public response.

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Traditionally, when an individual who owns a cat finds out they’re allergic the only two real viable solutions are to give the cat up, or endure allergy shots, which work by repressing the parts of your immune system that normally react to cat allergens. This desensitization of the immune system definitely works, but a major side effect is the weakening of your bodies natural defense system, so it’s a major give and take. This new vaccine in question doesn’t affect your immune system at all, because it’s not given to you, instead it’s given to your furry friend.

The vaccine goes after a specific protein, known as Fel d 1 (FD1), in the cats system. This protein is the allergen that’s found in cats noses and saliva, which means when humans with cat allergies are exposed to this protein it causes our immune system to develop antibodies that attack the FD1. When our bodies produce antibodies to attack an unknown intruder, we experience the same symptoms we endure when we have a cold, as our bodies are going through a similar process to try to expel the intruder.  So, if successful this new vaccine will destroy the FD1 allergen in the cats bloodstream, causing it to never leave the cat only to be transferred into the humans body, making the cat seemingly hypoallergenic.

According to the study, over 50 cats were involved in the experiment, all received one shot in their backs and one in their hind legs. Scientist repeated this three times over the course of nine weeks, some also received booster shots six months after.

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“All the cats developed a sustained immune response to the allergen, and the booster shot helped keep antibody levels high. The cats themselves produced less FD1 in their saliva and tears, and when these cat samples were mixed with blood taken from real human patients with a cat allergy, they caused less of an allergic reaction” according to Hypocat CEO Gary Jennings in an interview with Gizmodo magazine.

The other aspect to this story that explains why it’s getting so much traction already as a medical success, is the fact that the cats themselves don’t appear to experience any side effects from the vaccine. The protein FD1 doesn’t have a defined necessary purpose within a cats body system, in fact there are a handful of domesticated cats who produce very little FD1 with no known medical ailments. The vaccine also doesn’t fully eradicate all FD1 allergens in the cats body.

The news is groundbreaking and exciting, however, it’s also still in it’s “pre-clinical” phase, meaning it’s far from being available to the public. Jennings also told Gizmodo that “Hypocat is working with U.S. and European drug approval agencies, and have already started to conduct clinical trials and lay down the groundwork for mass production.”

Unfortunately that means that even if the vaccine passes all clinical trials, it’ll still be a few years before it hits the market. “If all goes as planned then we hope to reach the market in 2022,” Jennings said.