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AC Immune Receives a Grant from The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Continued Development of Parkinson’s Disease Diagnostic Imaging Agent
Previously reported clinical proof-of-concept data on ACI-12589 showed the PET tracer generating the first live images of alpha-synuclein in the human
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[{"type":"text","content":"Previously reported clinical proof-of-concept data on ACI-12589 showed the PET tracer generating the first live images of alpha-synuclein in the human brainNew grant funding will pave the way for enhanced clinical studiesTotal funding from The Michael J. Fox Foundation for AC Immune’s alpha-synuclein PET tracer program is now up to USD 3.7 million LAUSANNE, Switzerland, Sept. 01, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AC Immune SA (NASDAQ: ACIU), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering precision medicine for neurodegenerative diseases, today announced that The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) awarded the Company a new grant to continue development of its Morphomer®-based alpha-synuclein (a-syn) positron emission tomography (PET) tracer, ACI-12589. AC Immune has received continuous grant support from MJFF since 2015 to develop a-syn PET tracers. This new grant brings the total MJFF funding for this program up to USD 3.7 million. If successful, AC Immune’s a-syn PET tracer program could deliver the world’s first imaging agent capable of accurately detecting and monitoring progression of Parkinson’s disease (PD). This would potentially enable and accelerate the development of novel PD therapies by providing a powerful tool for measuring the effect of novel drugs on a-syn pathology in the brain. Earlier this year, AC Immune and its collaborators reported clinical proof-of-concept data on ACI-12589, with the PET tracer generating the first live images of a-syn in the human brain. PET images from multiple system atrophy (MSA) patients dosed with ACI-12589 showed enhanced contrast and a-syn target specificity, as well as increased tracer retention in brain areas affected by MSA disease processes. ACI-12589 also displayed pharmacokinetic and safety profiles suitable for further development as a human brain PET imaging agent. AC Immune’s portfolio in PD covers the full spectrum of treatment modalities addressing a-syn, a well-characterized target in PD. In addition to ACI-12589, the portfolio includes the Phase 2 ready anti-a-syn vaccine, ACI-7104, as well as an anti-a-syn antibody and a Morphomer® a-syn aggregation inhibitor, both in pre-clinical development. Together, these assets have the potential to enable a precision medicine approach to treating PD and other a-synucleinopathies, detecting the disease early...