AFFiRiS Alzheimer vaccine begins efficacy trial

Vienna-based AFFiRiS' Alzheimer's vaccine candidate AD02 has begun phase II clinical testing - the hope being that confirmation of its efficacy may be possible during 2012.

The start of this efficacy study comes five months after the completion of the corresponding phase I study, which confirmed the safety and tolerability of the vaccine. The company is currently developing a total of 12 prospective products in different disease areas. These are in all stages of the development pipeline.

The prospective Alzheimer's vaccine AD02 will be used with immediate effect in a multicentre phase II clinical study in Austria and five other European countries. Clinical centres in Germany, France, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Croatia are taking part in the study, with a total of 420 patients being recruited. Information about registering for the trial appears on AFFiRiS' website

CEO and co-founder of the company, Dr Walter Schmidt said: "Last year AD02, along with our second prospective Alzheimer's vaccine AD01, was primarily tested in terms of its safety and tolerability. Those primary endpoints have been met by vaccine formulations. The decision to nominate AD02 for phase II testing study is based on currently still confidential results of the interim analysis of the secondary endpoints of the preceding phase I studies."

The other reason for accelerating the progress of AD02 is the company's intention to set clear priorities in respect of its broad product pipeline. The pipeline also comprises vaccines for treating atherosclerosis, hypertension and three other indications, which are currently still confidential.

In addition, AFFiRiS announced only a few weeks ago that a prospective vaccine for the treatment of Parkinson's disease will start phase I clinical studies at the beginning of 2011.