Alzinova completes humanisation work and selects lead candidate for monoclonal antibody ALZ-201
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Alzinova AB (publ) (FN STO: ALZ), a Swedish biopharma company, today announces the company has successfully completed the humanisation work and selected a humanised lead candidate of its monoclonal antibody ALZ-201.
Alzinova initiated work to humanise the monoclonal antibody ALZ-201 in the second quarter of 2021. The company has now successfully completed the humanisation activities and selected the lead candidate, which will be further developed with the aim to strengthen Alzinova’s portfolio of disease modifying therapies and to offer an additional treatment approach to help patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Several back-up candidates with promising profiles have also been developed.
Anders Sandberg, Chief Scientific Officer at Alzinova, says, “The antibody ALZ-201 has a unique binding profile and strong preclinical efficacy data. That it now has been engineered to be tolerated by humans enables its further development as a potential therapeutic to treat Alzheimer’s patients. We believe that this antibody and the related vaccine, ALZ-101, can potentially make a huge difference for the future of Alzheimer’s disease treatments.”
Unique specificity and preclinical efficacy
In December 2021, Alzinova communicated the results from a research collaboration with Amsterdam University Medical Centers. Data from the project confirmed the unique specificity and preclinical efficacy of ALZ-201.
The humanised monoclonal antibody, ALZ-201, has the potential to be developed as a novel therapy to specifically target toxic forms of the amyloid beta peptide (oligomers), and thus prevent its neurotoxic effect on neurons. Aggregation of the amyloid beta in the brain is widely recognized as a main driver of Alzheimer’s disease.
Both ALZ-201 and the related therapeutic vaccine, ALZ-101, which is in clinical development, are novel immunotherapies with very specific and targeted effects, which could translate to more favorable clinical profiles with best-in-class potential compared to other amyloid beta-targeting immunotherapies.
The company plans to communicate more details on the future development of ALZ-201 during the first half of 2022.
For more information, please contact:
Kristina Torfgård, CEO
Tel. +46 708 46 79 75
E-mail: kristina.torfgard@alzinova.com
About ALZ-201
ALZ-201 is a monoclonal antibody developed to specifically target toxic soluble forms of amyloid-beta42 – the main driver of Alzheimer’s disease. It lacks affinity for monomers and fibrils, including plaques, and all forms of the much less toxic amyloid-beta 40 peptide. Despite its unique binding profile, it has a profound effect on the toxicity of brain extracts derived from deceased Alzheimer’s patients. By specifically targeting the toxic form of the amyloid-beta peptide, a higher target engagement across the blood brain barrier is expected compared to other amyloid-targeting antibodies, potentially resulting in a therapy that is best-in-class within this class of therapeutics. ALZ-201 is in early preclinical development and its binding specificity is similar to the related clinical stage vaccine, ALZ-101.
About Alzinova AB
Alzinova AB is a Swedish clinical-stage biopharma company specializing in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease targeting neurotoxic amyloid beta oligomers. The lead candidate, ALZ-101, is being developed as a therapeutic vaccine for the treatment of Alzheimer's. Alzinova’s proprietary AβCC peptide™ technology enables the development of disease-modifying therapies that target the toxic amyloid beta oligomers involved in the onset and progression of the disease with high precision. Alzheimer’s is one of the most common and devastating neurological diseases globally, with of the order of 40 million people afflicted today. In addition, the antibody ALZ-201 is in early preclinical development, and the ambition is to expand the pipeline further. The company’s Certified Advisor on Nasdaq First North Growth Market is Corpura info@corpura.se +46 768-532 822. For more information about Alzinova, please visit: www.alzinova.com