Aducanumab is good; next generation Alzheimer’s disease therapies will be better

New data for aducanumab strengthens potential for Alzheimer’s therapy in near term, fuels next-generation therapies with more selective binding for toxic species of amyloid beta

TORONTO and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Dec. 05, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 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, commends Biogen for its trailblazing efforts to advance aducanumab. Data released today at CTAD (Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s Disease conference) strengthen aducanumab’s potential to become the first disease-modifying therapy for Alzheimer’s disease. The data clearly underscore the need for next-generation drug candidates that offer more precise binding to the misfolded beta amyloid oligomer (AßO), the toxic species of the amyloid beta protein and root cause of Alzheimer’s disease.

“Today’s presentation reflects yet another landmark step toward the approval of a disease-modifying therapy for Alzheimer’s disease, which, we must remember, is currently the only top-ten cause of death without treatment,” said ProMIS Neurosciences Chief Medical Officer James Kupiec, MD. “The aducanumab data is indeed good news, but the compound has limitations. History frequently shows that first-generation therapies for the most challenging diseases often have major efficacy or safety limitations.  In heart disease, cancer and HIV, first-generation efforts often paved the way for better, safer medicines, and the same will be true for Alzheimer’s disease by more precisely targeting only the toxic species of amyloid beta and thereby avoiding the dose-limiting side effects associated with unwanted off-target binding. We will get there.  Biomarkers will help us get there faster, but aducanumab is a tremendous first step.”

New data for aducanumab affirm a statistically significant reduction in cognitive and functional decline for participants in the EMERGE trial. As clinical benefit depends on the amount of antibody that can reach the pathogenic species of amyloid beta, data continue to show that aducanumab demonstrates limited selectivity for AßOs: off-target binding to amyloid plaque was associated with adverse and dose-limiting ARIA-E (brain swelling) in 35% of trial participants despite attempts to minimize it by titrating drug dosing.

PMN310 is a next generation drug candidate that offers more precise selectivity for AßOs, which is expected to provide greater clinical benefit and safety based upon current preclinical data. Created using a novel drug discovery and development platform that can uniquely and precisely target the toxic forms of otherwise normal proteins, PMN310 demonstrates a high degree of binding to toxic oligomers without binding to non-toxic forms of amyloid beta. Data also demonstrate PMN310’s greater therapeutic potency versus other Aß-directed antibodies. For more information about PMN310, please visit www.promisneurosciences.com.

To learn more about the search for therapies for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases, listen to 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

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