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AC Immune ACI-24 Data in Brain Communications Show Abeta Vaccine-Candidate Induces Immunity Against pyroGlu-Abeta, Key Driver of Alzheimer’s Disease
Results differentiate ACI-24 as potential best-in-class Abeta vaccine in development Strong response against neurotoxic pyroGlu-Abeta variants observed in
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[{"type":"text","content":"Results differentiate ACI-24 as potential best-in-class Abeta vaccine in development Strong response against neurotoxic pyroGlu-Abeta variants observed in non-human primates Data further support advancing optimized ACI-24 into the next stage of clinical development for Alzheimer’s disease and Down syndrome-related AD in 2022 LAUSANNE, Switzerland, Feb. 04, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AC Immune SA (NASDAQ: ACIU), a Swiss-based, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a broad pipeline focused on neurodegenerative diseases, today announced that preclinical data on the optimized formulation of its wholly-owned amyloid-beta (Abeta) vaccine program, ACI-24, were published in the peer reviewed journal Brain Communications. Based on these and other preclinical data, as well as the results of three clinical trials with ACI-24, AC Immune plans to advance clinical development of the optimized formulation to the next stage for both Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Down syndrome (DS) related AD in 2022. Pyroglutamate Abeta (pyroGlu-Abeta) peptides, truncated forms of the Abeta protein, are highly neurotoxic Abeta species, which are observed only in brain amyloid plaques and believed to be key drivers of AD1. PyroGlu-Abeta peptides’ altered biochemical properties make them more prone to aggregation compared to full-length Abeta and they are a major component of neurotoxic amyloid plaques. A recently published Phase 2 clinical trial showed that a monoclonal antibody targeting pyroGlu-Abeta epitope demonstrated slowing of cognitive and functional decline in early Alzheimer disease patients2. Data published today in the Brain Communications paper show the optimized ACI-24 formulation induced a broad polyclonal anti-Abeta response, including high titers of antibodies targeting pyroGlu-Abeta variants, and was well tolerated in non-human primates and mice. Specifically, in the study, conducted in mice and non-human primates, optimized ACI-24 generated a strong immune response against both the full length Abeta (Abeta1-42) and pyroGlu-Abeta. Importantly, the anti-pyroGlu-Abeta immune response observed in this newly published study was substantially stronger in animals vaccinated with the optimized ACI-24 vaccine formulation compared to those vaccinated with earlier Abeta vaccines from other companies that have been clinically tested (AN1792 and ACC-0...