Parkinson's vaccine to begin first clinical study in Vienna
Vaccine holds out the prospect of delivering a causative treatment for the first time
The worldwide first clinical trial for the development of a Parkinson's vaccine has now been started by Austrian company AFFiRiS. The vaccine, called PD01A, is directed against alpha-Synuclein (alpha-syn), a protein considered to cause the onset and progression of the disease, and is currently being tested on Parkinson's patients in a Phase I trial. Taking place in Vienna and involving up to 32 patients, the primary endpoints of the trial are safety and tolerability of PD01A.
This vaccine represents the first agent worldwide aiming at disease modification of Parkinson's rather than addressing symptomatic improvement only and offers the prospect of delivering a causative treatment of Parkinson's for the first time.
PD01A aims to educate the immune system to generate antibodies directed against alpha-syn. Its potential for success prompted the Michael J. Fox Foundation to support its development financially to the tune of US$1.5m.
Since the approval of L-DOPA some 50 years ago, therapeutic intervention has followed the same concept: the substitution of the neurotransmitter dopamine. Accordingly, all medications for Parkinson's so far can affect the symptoms, but none of them can modify the course of the disease.
Based on today's scientific understanding, Parkinson's is caused by deposits of pathological forms of alpha-syn in the brain. A reduction of the brain's alpha-syn aggregates is believed to have a beneficial impact on the progress of the disease. PD01A aims to accomplish that through the induction of antibodies that target alpha-syn to neutralise its toxic impact.
‘Worldwide, for the first time immunotherapy is applied for the treatment of Parkinson's,’ said Dr Walter Schmidt, ceo of AFFiRiS. ‘It is a so-called “First-in-Man” and “First-in-Kind” trial, because PD01A is the first medication worldwide aiming for clinical efficacy by modulating the metabolic pathway of alpha-syn.’
