What happened
Shares of AC Immune (ACIU 1.70%) jumped 15% on Thursday after the Swiss-based biopharmaceutical company released promising data from its early-stage study of ACI-35.030, an experimental vaccine for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD).
So what
AC Immune's vaccine candidate elicited a "potent" antibody response against pTau -- a protein that scientists believe plays a part in Alzheimer's disease -- in all 32 patients in its Phase 1b/2a clinical trial. "These remarkable data show that ACI-35.030 is capable of generating unprecedented antibody responses against pTau in an elderly population," AC Immune CEO Andrea Pfeifer said in a press release.
AC Immune's stock price rose sharply on Thursday. Image source: Getty Images.
AC Immune believes the antibodies could help to slow the spread of the pTau protein in the brain. In turn, Pfeifer posits ACI-35.030 could potentially serve as "an early intervention for AD, especially when combined with cutting-edge pTau diagnostics that would enable identification of people at risk of developing Tau-driven disease."
Moreover, ACI-35.030 was found to be safe and generally well tolerated, with no adverse events reported.
Now what
AC Immune said these results support its plans to advance ACI-35.030 into Phase 2/3 clinical trials. The biotech is developing the vaccine candidate in partnership with Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson.
