Pipeline offers critical "one-two punch" in
potential treatment
arsenal for Alzheimer's disease
TORONTO and CAMBRIDGE, MA,
May 28, 2019 /PRNewswire/
- ProMIS Neurosciences, Inc. (TSX: PMN) (OTCQB: ARFXF), a
biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of
antibody therapeutics targeting toxic oligomers implicated in the
development of neurodegenerative diseases, has identified several
promising novel antibody candidates that selectively bind the toxic
form of Tau.
The misfolded, toxic form of Tau, an otherwise normal protein in
the brain, is implicated in the development of Alzheimer's disease
along with the toxic oligomer of amyloid beta. Dual targeting of
toxic forms of Tau and amyloid beta is currently one of the most
promising areas of therapy development in Alzheimer's disease.
ProMIS Neurosciences now has two potential therapy candidates that
address both neurotoxic proteins.
ProMIS leveraged its proprietary drug discovery and development
platform to identify several novel antibodies that selectively bind
toxic oligomers of Tau. The platform produces antibodies that meet
a key success factor for a viable Alzheimer's disease therapy: the
ability to selectively target the neurotoxic form of a protein,
while sparing the normal forms of the protein, a challenge that has
contributed to recent late-stage clinical trial failures. The
platform not only generates high-quality antibody candidates, it
delivers powerful, validated candidates in months versus years.
Used in combination with new biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease,
researchers could dramatically improve the success and speed of
future therapy development efforts.
"The ProMIS platform addresses a problem that has plagued the
Alzheimer's drug development community: the inability to
selectively target the neurotoxic form of Tau and amyloid beta,"
said Dr. Neil Cashman, a renowned
researcher in protein misfolding diseases and Chief Science Officer
of ProMIS Neurosciences. "A recently published scientific study
from the team led by Nobel Laureate Stanley B. Prusiner M.D., shows
that Alzheimer's disease is a double prion disorder1,
2, resulting from self-propagating amyloid and Tau
prions. We're proud that our pipeline may offer the critical
one-two punch to neutralize both of these toxic oligomers and offer
potential disease-modifying therapy that this patient community so
desperately needs and deserves."
ProMIS' novel Tau antibodies join a pipeline of antibody
candidates that demonstrate selectivity for the toxic species of
naturally occurring proteins in the brain. The pipeline
includes:
- Alzheimer's disease:
-
- PMN310, an antibody clinical candidate that selectively targets
the toxic form of amyloid beta
- Novel Tau antibodies that are potential candidates selectively
targeting the toxic form of Tau.
- Parkinson's disease
-
- Antibody candidates showing best-in-class selectivity for toxic
forms of alpha synuclein compared to other therapeutic antibodies
in development.
- ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis)
-
- Antibody candidates targeting the toxic form of TDP43.
To learn more about Tau, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease
therapy development efforts and the promise of new biomarkers,
listen to the podcast, Saving Minds, at iTunes or Spotify.
About ProMIS Neurosciences
ProMIS Neurosciences, Inc.
is a development stage biotechnology company focused on discovering
and developing antibody therapeutics selectively targeting toxic
oligomers implicated in the development and progression of
neurodegenerative diseases, in particular Alzheimer's disease (AD),
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Parkinson's disease (PD).
The Company's proprietary target discovery platform is based on the
use of two complementary thermodynamic, computational discovery
engines -ProMIS and Collective Coordinates – to predict novel
targets known as Disease Specific Epitopes on the molecular surface
of misfolded proteins. Using this unique precision approach, the
Company is developing novel antibody therapeutics for AD, ALS and
PD. ProMIS is headquartered in Toronto,
Ontario, with offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ProMIS is listed on
the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol PMN, and on the OTCQB
Venture Market under the symbol ARFXF.
Visit us at www.promisneurosciences.com, follow us
on Twitter and LinkedIn
References
1 Science Translational
Medicine 01 May 2019: Vol.
11, Issue 490
2
https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2019/05/414326/alzheimers-disease-double-prion-disorder-study-shows
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