AFFiRiS said that the specific reason for the ‘outing’ of project no 4 was the approval of public research promotion funds by the FFG. The vaccine is targeting angiotensin II, a peptide hormone that can cause narrowing of the blood vessels and thereby hypertension.
So far AFFiRiS had announced the development of two vaccines for alzheimer’s disease as well as one each for parkinson’s disease and atherosclerosis.
Reportedly, AFFiRiS will make use of its Affitome platform technology, which allows the generation of vaccines targeting autologous structures such as proteins and peptides.
Dr Walter Schmidt, CEO of AFFiRiS, said: “With projects in seven different indications at the moment, AFFiRiS has achieved a broad diversification of potential development risks. While building up this pipeline we were consequently guided by our strategic focus, which is targeting disease areas with very large numbers of patients and lack of optimal therapies.
“We believe that systematic risk distribution, together with a focus on indications with a high market potential is the key for substantial success of a biotechnology company. The early VC investment by MIG Fonds, Munich, was of substancial importance for the establishment of our strong development pipeline. Our first licensing agreement on our alzheimer’s vaccination approach valued at up to EUR430m, shows that the pharmaceutical industry does already believe in our technology.
“In order to develop a vaccine that can reduce hypertension, it must be able to trigger a highly specific immune response. The blood pressuring- increasing angiotensin II and the blood pressure-reducing angiotensin 1-7 differ by only one amino acid, while the remainder of the structure is identical. Our Affitome technology allows us to adjust the immune response such that only angiotensin II is addressed. There was a similarly tricky problem in our first project, the alzheimer’s vaccine which we also solved successfully.”
Dr Frank Mattner, CSO, said: “Although chronic hypertension can be treated with drugs, the patient has to be precisely attuned to them and must then take medication constantly which often doesn’t work out. Our vaccine is intended to lower the burden of strictly following this medication dictate, thereby contributing to ensuring lasting success. Taking into account the long term aspect of how hypertension leads to the often fatal sequelae such as heart diseases, stroke and kidney problems in the long term, sustainability is key for treatment’s success.”