Switzerland-based biopharmaceutical company AC Immune has dosed the first patient with ACI-7104, an experimental vaccine for Parkinson’s disease.
The Phase 2, double-blind, placebo-controlled VacSYn trial is currently enrolling patients with early Parkinson’s and will examine the safety, immunogenicity, and pharmacokinetics of the vaccine over a 74-week treatment period. Study measures include incidence of adverse events, levels of alpha-synuclein antibodies, change in Movement Disorder Society-Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale Part III, and levels of dopamine transporter proteins in the substantia nigra.
AC Immune utilizes its proprietary SupraAntigen® platform to create liposomes to “stimulate the patient’s immune system to directly target pathological forms of misfolded proteins.” ACI-7104 was designed to induce the immune system to create antibodies that recognize toxic aggregates of misfolded alpha-synuclein, a hallmark of Parkinson’s disease.
AC Immune is also testing treatments that target Tau and Abeta in Alzheimer’s disease, and safety data from the VacSYn trial are expected by the end of this year. “With further clinical readouts from our precision medicine pipeline ahead, we continue to work diligently towards earlier diagnosis and treatment to prevent progression of neurodegenerative diseases,” said CEO Dr. Andrea Pfeifer.
