Date: 2017-08-22
Type of
information: Initiation of preclinical development
phase: preclinical
Announcement: initiation of preclinical development
Company: AC Immune (Switzerland)
Product: antibodies against alpha-synuclein and TDP-43
Action
mechanism: monoclonal antibody
Disease: neurodegenerative diseases
Therapeutic
area: Neurodegenerative diseases
Country:
Trial
details:
Latest
news:
- • On August 22, 2017, AC Immune announced it has discovered new antibodies against two targets in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases. Alpha-synuclein is an established target for Parkinson’s disease and other Lewy body diseases, while
TDP-43 is a recently identified target of growing interest for neuro-orphan indications such as Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration. More interestingly, both targets also play an important role in other significant neurodegenerative indications such as Alzheimer’s
disease, beyond the established hallmarks of Abeta and Tau. These next-generation antibodies were discovered using the company’s proprietary SupraAntigen™ platform, which has already generated four products in clinical development, including crenezumab partnered with Genentech/Roche in Phase 3 for Alzheimer’s.
The two antibody discovery programs complement the R&D collaboration with Biogen comprised of two radiopharmaceutical diagnostic programs to develop PET-ligands for both alpha-synuclein and TDP-43, using AC Immune’s proprietary Morphomer™ chemistry technology platform, designed to interact with the basic process of protein misfolding.
- These latest antibody discovery programs reflect the growing body of evidence about the benefits of targeting pathological elements (Brettscheider et al, Nature Reviews 2015) and the different modelling techniques used to generate specific binding properties of compounds. AC Immune is collaborating with various expert groups to elucidate the exact mode of action of the two next-generation antibodies.
Is
general: Yes
