ProMIS Neurosciences Achieves Milestone in Development of Therapeutic Alpha-Synuclein Vaccine

Lead vaccine candidate selected for advancement against synucleinopathies including Multiple System Atrophy, Parkinson’s disease and Dementia with Lewy bodies

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts and TORONTO, Ontario, Jan. 22, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ProMIS Neurosciences Inc. (Nasdaq: PMN), a biotechnology company focused on the generation and development of therapeutics targeting toxic misfolded proteins in neurodegenerative diseases, today announced the selection of a lead vaccine candidate, PMN400, against multiple synucleinopathies including Multiple System Atrophy (MSA), Parkinson’s disease and Lewy Body Dementia.

“We are excited about the potential of our ground-breaking technology in neurodegenerative diseases,” said Neil Warma, Chief Executive Officer of ProMIS Neurosciences. “While our primary focus is on the further clinical development of our lead antibody candidate, PMN310, which is currently advancing in a Phase 1a clinical trial for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, we are also enthusiastic about the potential of our platform for the development of novel targeted antibody therapeutics and vaccines to combat several of these debilitating diseases. Importantly, this program is supported by a grant that has allowed us to select this promising drug candidate and could enable us to broaden the application of our platform across multiple neurodegenerative diseases using targeted antibody therapeutics and vaccines to bring novel treatments to patients in need.”

The pioneering work that enabled this stage of development to be achieved was made possible through a $1.16 million (CAD) research grant by the Weston Family Foundation to the University of British Columbia to support the research of the team led by Neil Cashman, M.D., ProMIS Chief Scientific Officer and Professor Emeritus at the University of British Columbia. The team also includes Scott Napper, Ph.D., from the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) and Professor of Biochemistry, Microbiology, and Immunology at the University of Saskatchewan, Marco Prado, Ph.D., the Canada Research Chair in Neurochemistry of Dementia and Professor of Anatomy & Cell Biology / Physiology and Pharmacology, at the University of Western Ontario, and Joel Watts, Ph.D., Canada Research Chair in Protein Misfolding Disorders and Associate Professor within the Department of Biochemistry and the Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases at the University of Toronto.

Using a proprietary computational platform, ProMIS identified potential conformational epitopes (misfolded portions) unique to toxic alpha-synuclein involved in synucleinopathies. Formulations of several of these epitopes were tested in mouse vaccination studies leading to the selection of a lead vaccine candidate for testing in mouse models replicating cognitive and motor deficits of human disease.  

Results from the vaccination studies are being submitted for presentation at the 2024 meeting of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) taking place from April 13-18, 2024 in Denver, Colorado.

About ProMIS Neurosciences Inc.

ProMIS Neurosciences Inc. is a clinical stage biotechnology company focused on generating and developing antibody therapeutics selectively targeting toxic misfolded proteins in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and multiple system atrophy (MSA). The Company’s proprietary target discovery engine applies a thermodynamic, computational discovery platform - ProMIS™ and Collective Coordinates - to predict novel targets known as Disease Specific Epitopes on the molecular surface of misfolded proteins. Using this unique approach, the Company is developing novel antibody therapeutics for AD, ALS and MSA. ProMIS has offices in Toronto, Ontario and Cambridge, Massachusetts.

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Released January 22, 2024