KV1.3 blockers

1. An ion channel blocker comprising a Kv1.3 inhibitor component, wherein said Kv1.3 inhibitor component has Kv1.3 inhibitor activity and is selective for Kv1.3,

wherein said ion channel blocker consists of the sequence:

H-P[Nle]E[Nle]RCSASVECKQKCLAAIGSIFGKC[Nle]NKKCKCYPR-OH (SEQ ID NO. 97), or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, and

wherein the ion channel blocker (SEQ ID NO: 97) contains a disulphide bond between the first and fourth cysteine residue, the second and fifth cysteine residue, and the third and sixth cysteine residue.

2. A pharmaceutical composition comprising an ion channel blocker or pharmaceutically acceptable salt according to claim 1 , in admixture with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.

3. A method of synthesising an ion channel blocker according to claim 1 , the method comprising:

(a) synthesising the ion channel blocker by means of solid-phase or liquid-phase peptide synthesis methodology and recovering the peptide thus obtained;

(b) expressing the ion channel blocker from a nucleic acid construct that encodes the ion channel blocker and recovering the expression product; or (c) expressing a precursor peptide from a nucleic acid construct that encodes the precursor peptide sequence, recovering the expression product, and modifying the precursor peptide to yield the ion channel blocker.

4. A method for:

(i) inhibiting or reducing inflammation in a patient;

(ii) treating hay fever, asthma, anaphylaxis, allergic rhinitis, urticaria, eczema, alopecia areata, dermatomyositis, inclusion body myositis, polymyositis, ankylosing spondylitis, vasculitis, arthritis, Sjogren's syndrome, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), uveitis, inflammatory fibrosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), hepatitis, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, inflammatory bowel disease, colitis, erythema, thyroiditis, psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, allergic contact dermatitis, scleroderma, glomerulonephritis, inflammatory bone resorption, multiple sclerosis, transplant rejection or graft-versus-host disease;

(iii) inhibiting weight gain, promoting weight loss, reducing excess body weight or treating obesity, or treating obesity linked inflammation, obesity linked gallbladder disease or obesity induced sleep apnoea in a patient;

(iv) treating a condition caused by or associated with impaired glucose control in a patient;

(v) treating a smooth muscle proliferative disorder in a patient;

(vi) treating a neuroinflammatory or neurodegenerative disorder in a patient; or

(vii) treating cancer in a patient;

said method comprising administering to said patient an ion channel blocker or pharmaceutically acceptable salt according to claim 1 .

5. A method according to claim 4 wherein the condition caused by or associated with impaired glucose control is metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, glucose intolerance, pre-diabetes, increased fasting glucose or type 2 diabetes.

6. A method according to claim 4 wherein the smooth muscle proliferative disorder is restenosis.

7. A method according to claim 4 wherein the neuroinflammatory or neurodegenerative disorder is Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis (MS), Parkinson's disease or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

8. A method according to claim 4 wherein the cancer is breast cancer, prostate cancer or lymphoma.

9. A method according to claim 4 wherein the arthritis is rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis or psoriatic arthritis.

10. A method according to claim 4 wherein the inflammatory fibrosis is scleroderma, lung fibrosis or cirrhosis.

11. A method according to claim 4 wherein the colitis is Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis.

12. A method according to claim 8 wherein the lymphoma is non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL).

13. A method according to claim 9 wherein the NHL is large B-cell lymphoma, follicular lymphoma, Burkitt lymphoma, immunoblastic large cell lymphoma, precursor B-lymphoblastic lymphoma, mantle cell lymphoma, mycosis fungoides, anaplastic large cell lymphoma, peripheral T-cell lymphoma, precursor T-lymphoblastic lymphoma or Sézary syndrome.