EPALINGES, Switzerland, January 14, 2014 - Anergis, a company focusing on proprietary allergy vaccines, today announced it was granted a Japanese patent on its key technology from the Japanese Patent Office. The patent #5389326 broadly covers the Contiguous Overlapping Peptide (COP) technology which is used by Anergis to define and select new products for the ultra-fast treatment of multiple allergies.
“We have already been granted patents protecting our COP technology in the U.S. and Australia,” said Christophe Reymond, CSO of Anergis. “COPs are pharmaceutical quality products that provide the complete allergen sequence covering all T cell epitopes, but do not elicit allergic hypersensitivity. Therefore, COPs can be administered safely at high doses to induce tolerance to the allergen after a few injections only.”
He added that Anergis has already demonstrated in Phase I/IIa and IIb trials that just five injections of its lead COP allergy vaccine AllerT over a period of two months were sufficient to achieve long-lasting immunological effects as well as seasonal symptom reductions in allergic patients, similar to conventional allergy immunotherapy.
“Obtaining patent protection in Japan is an important milestone for Anergis because the Japanese population suffers from numerous allergies, particularly to house dust mites and to Japanese cedar,” said Vincent Charlon, CEO of Anergis.
Anergis’ COP technology can be applied to a broad spectrum of allergy indications. At present, Anergis is developing AllerT for the treatment of birch pollen allergy, AllerR for ragweed pollen allergies and AllerDM for dust mite allergies.
About Anergis
Anergis SA is a Swiss-based biopharmaceutical company specializing in the discovery and development of novel, proprietary allergy vaccines that target commercially attractive indications. Anergis´ vaccines are based on its IP-protected Contiguous Overlapping Peptide technology. Allergies are the most prevalent and fastest growing chronic conditions in the industrialized world affecting over 500 million people.
Anergis’ lead-product AllerT, a vaccine to treat birch pollen allergies, is due to enter Phase III clinical development in 2014. Two additional vaccine candidates against ragweed pollen allergies (AllerR) and house dust mite allergies (AllerDM) are in preclinical development.
Anergis has raised over CHF 22 million from Renaissance PME-Vinci Capital, Sunstone Capital, BioMedInvest and other investors, including Esperante Ventures and Initiative Capital Romandie/Defi Gestion.
About Anergis´ Contiguous Overlapping Peptides (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 serious side effects - in particular immediate (<30 min) anaphylactic reactions - which can be life-threatening. With its ultra-fast desensitization, Anergis is shaping the future of allergy treatment. Anergis’ vaccines are based on COPs which reproduce the complete amino acid sequence of the allergen in separate synthetic long peptides. COP allergy vaccines are pharmaceutical quality products that provide the complete allergen sequence covering all T cell epitopes, but do not cross-react with IgE, the antibody class responsible for eliciting allergic hypersensitivity. Therefore, COPs can be administered safely at high doses to induce tolerance to the allergen after a few injections only. This allows for 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 demonstrated excellent safety (no immediate allergic reaction) and immunogenicity (production of specific antibodies and cytokines against the original allergen and establishment of a long-term immune memory). The Phase IIb data reported in September 2013 confirmed that COP allergy vaccines can also substantially reduce allergy symptoms under real-life conditions of natural pollen exposure.
Contact:
Anergis SA
CH-1066 Epalinges
Vincent Charlon, CEO
info@anergis.ch
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