On 4 February, AC Immune, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on neurodegenerative diseases, announced new findings from its experimental vaccine ACI-24 in mouse models. Results were published in the journal Brain Communications. ACI-24 is an experimental anti-amyloid beta vaccine designed to prevent amyloid beta plaque accumulation and enhance plaque clearance. An earlier formulation of ACI-24 has been evaluated in small clinical trials with people with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). These data showed that ACI-24 was able to induce an anti-amyloid beta immune response.
Scientists tested an optimised version of ACI-24 in mouse models and showed that the experimental vaccine could stimulate the production of antibodies against amyloid beta and was able to induce a strong immune response, substantially stronger in mice vaccinated with the optimised ACI-24 vaccine formulation compared to those vaccinated with the earlier formulation. In addition, ACI-24 was well-tolerated. Further data will be presented at the 16th International Conference on Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Diseases in March 2022. The company plans to advance clinical development of the new ACI-24 formulation in AD and Down syndrome-related AD this year.