• 213 patients included in trial of novel ultra-fast allergy immunotherapeutic
EPALINGES, Switzerland, April 1, 2015 – Anergis, a company developing novel and proprietary ultra-fast allergy immunotherapeutics, today announced treatment completion of its Phase II clinical trial of AllerT, a novel long-peptide immunotherapeutic to treat birch pollen allergies. In the trial, 213 patients were randomized to receive target doses of 10, 25 or 50 µg of AllerT or placebo as 5 subcutaneous injections over 2 months. The last patient was treated at the end of March. No serious adverse events and no grade 3 or 4 allergic reactions were reported. The trial is being conducted in Canada and is still blinded. Results are expected in Q3 of 2015.
“The trial results will support us in selecting the optimum dose regimen for Phase III, which we plan to start next year,” said Vincent Charlon, Chief Executive Officer of Anergis. “Besides, they will add to our growing body of data demonstrating the efficacy of our novel allergy immunotherapy approach using long peptides. Our field-based clinical trials of AllerT have already consistently demonstrated the long-lasting immune memory and sustained efficacy resulting from just 5 pre-seasonal injections of our immunotherapeutic.”
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About Anergis
Anergis SA is a Swiss-based biopharmaceutical company specializing in the discovery and development of novel, proprietary allergy immunotherapeutics that target commercially attractive indications. Anergis´ long-peptide immunotherapeutics are based on its IP-protected Contiguous Overlapping Peptide (COP) technology. Allergies are the most prevalent and fastest growing chronic conditions in the industrialized world affecting over 500 million people. Anergis’ lead-product AllerT for patients with birch pollen allergy is due to enter Phase III clinical development. Two additional allergy immunotherapy product candidates against ragweed pollen allergy (AllerR) and house dust mite allergy (AllerDM) are in preclinical development and expected to reach clinical testing in 2016/2017.
Anergis has raised CHF 47 million to date from private and institutional investors, including BioMedInvest, Renaissance PME, Sunstone Capital, and WJFS, Inc.
About Anergis´ COP Technology
The only curative therapy of allergies available today, known as “desensitization” or conventional “Allergy Immunotherapy” (AIT), is the process of inducing tolerance to the allergen. It requires 3-5 years of treatment and exposes patients to the risk of immediate (<30 min) anaphylactic reactions which can be life-threatening. With its ultra-fast COP allergy immunotherapy, Anergis is shaping the future of allergy treatment. Anergis’ long-peptide immunotherapeutics are based on COPs which reproduce the complete amino acid sequence of the allergen in separate synthetic long peptides. COP allergy immunotherapeutics do not cross-react with IgE, the antibody class responsible for eliciting allergic hypersensitivity. Therefore, COPs can be administered safely independent of MHC restriction and at high doses to induce tolerance to the allergen after only a few injections. This enables desensitization in 2 months as opposed to 3 years. Studies of COPs targeting bee venom and birch pollen allergies in both animals and humans have established the proof of concept of Anergis COP allergy immunotherapeutics in terms of safety (i.e. no immediate allergic reaction), immunogenicity (production of specific antibodies and cytokines against the original allergen and establishment of a long-term immune memory) and clinical efficacy (reduction of clinical allergy symptoms during at least two natural pollen seasons) after a single 2-month course of treatment.
Contact:
Anergis SA
CH-1066 Epalinges
Vincent Charlon, CEO
info@anergis.ch
Media Inquiries:
akampion
Dr. Ludger Wess, Ines-Regina Buth
Managing Partners
Tel. +49 40 88165964 or +49 30 2363 2768
info@akampion.com
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