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"The validation of our patent in Europe strengthens our competitiveadvantage in a therapeutic area that is a front runner in the attack againstAlzheimer's disease," commented Dr. Daniel Chain, Intellect's Chairman andChief Executive Officer. "We are excited about this promising technology thatpossesses a unique combination of safety features, which potentially enablesit to be used to treat patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease and also toprevent or delay the onset of this devastating disease."
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"There are multiple challenges in developing a means to safely immunizeelderly individuals and avoid the failures encountered in previous clinicaltrials sponsored by major pharmaceutical companies," commented ProfessorBenjamin Chain, at the Department of Immunology and Molecular Pathology,Windeyer Institute of Medical Sciences, University College London. ProfessorChain is the inventor of RECALL-VAX(TM) and is a member of Intellect'sScientific Advisory Board. Professor Chain added: "The major challenges arethe need to: mount a robust immune response when the immune system has becomesenescent as the result of age; avoid autoimmune reactions; and ensure thatthe antibodies generated do not interfere with the normal physiologicalfunctions of the Amyloid Precursor Protein. RECALL-VAX(TM) is specificallydesigned to address these issues." Professor Benjamin Chain is the brother ofIntellect's Chairman and CEO, Dr. Daniel Chain.
About the RECALL-VAX(TM) technology:
The key to inactivation of amyloid-beta toxin by vaccination is tostimulate a strong antibody immune response that targets and inactivates orpromotes the clearance of the toxin. The generation of such antibodiesrequires a T-cell response. Although beta amyloid contains epitopes that canstimulate such a T-cell response, these particular epitopes carry the risk ofinducing harmful autoimmunity. In RECALL-VAX(TM), the harmful human betaamyloid specific T-cell epitopes are replaced with a safe T-cell epitope, suchas bacterial Tetanus Toxoid, against which most people have been vaccinated.Moreover, by using only short fragments of the amyloid-beta toxin too small tocontain T-cell epitopes, the immune response is more specific than when largerpieces are used, ensuring that only the toxin, rather than the AmyloidPrecursor Protein, is targeted by the antibody.
About Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia, is characterized byprogressive loss of memory and cognition, ultimately leading to completedebilitation and death. A hallmark feature of Alzheimer's pathology is thepresence of insoluble protein deposits known as beta-amyloid on the surface ofnerve cells, which results from the accumulation of soluble beta-amyloid inthe brain. The effects of the disease are devastating to the patients as wellas the caregivers, with significant associated health care costs. It isestimated that there are over 12 million people suffering from Alzheimer'sdisease in the major markets worldwide with the number increasing as theglobal population ages. Currently marketed drugs transiently affect some ofthe symptoms of the disease, but there are no drugs on the market today thatslow or arrest the progression of the disease. These
