These monoclonal antibody (mab) therapeutics selectively bind to distinct epitope targets specific for the neurotoxic, prion-like strains of misfolded Amyloid beta (Aß), which are widely believed to play a key role in the development and progression of AD.
"Our screening program has successfully generated multiple mab product candidates directed at five unique epitope targets, enabling us to proceed to our in vitro validation program," said ProMIS’ CSO, Dr. Neil Cashman.
"The validation program will confirm mab binding profiles in cadaveric brain tissue from confirmed AD patients, and evaluate each candidate’s ability to stop prion-like progression and neurotoxicity. The results will determine the most promising product candidates to progress to clinical development."
The Company applied its proprietary discovery platform, consisting of ProMISTM and Collective Coordinates, to identify unique target epitopes on prion-like strains of misfolded Aß. During the screening program, multiple mabs raised against five unique epitopes were selected as they demonstrated tight binding to the epitope targets and to forms of misfolded Aß, with no measurable off-target binding.
"The key to effective therapy against Alzheimer’s disease is to create drugs that selectively target the root cause of disease, the prion forms of Amyloid beta," stated ProMIS Executive Chairman, Eugene Williams.
"The successful validation of three prion-selective products targeting misfolded variants of SOD1 for ALS, combined with the progress we have made in identifying multiple promising product candidates for Alzheimer’s makes us confident as we move forward with our in vitro validation program."