Tag: Anergis

Company News: Anergis Closes Financing Round Totaling CHF 8 M

– Preparation of Phase III trials with lead allergy vaccine AllerT

– Field-based, long-term efficacy milestone in patients from the AllerT Phase IIb trial coming up

Anergis, a company discovering and developing proprietary allergy vaccines, today announced the closing of a financing round totaling CHF 8 million. The financing was fully subscribed by existing investors and directors and was co-lead by Sunstone Capital, BioMedInvest and Renaissance PME/Vinci Capital.

Anergis will use the proceeds to further advance the clinical development of its lead product AllerT, a vaccine to treat birch pollen allergy, and to advance two additional vaccine candidates against house dust mite and ragweed allergies. For AllerT, the funds will specifically allow the preparation of Phase III trials and the conduct of a long-term efficacy follow-up trial of patients who participated in the recently completed field-based Phase II study. The results from this second follow-up season are expected to be available in the third quarter of 2014.

Company News: Anergis Obtains Core Technology Patent in Japan

– Patent covers Contiguous Overlapping Peptide technology for the development of ultra-fast allergy vaccines –

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.

Company News: Anergis Appoints Dr. Dino Dina to its Board of Directors

– Company appoints seasoned US vaccine and biotech executive –

Anergis, a company focusing on proprietary allergy vaccines, today announced the appointment of Dino Dina, MD, to its Board of Directors. Dr. Dina brings extensive expertise in the research and development of vaccines for allergy, cancer and infectious diseases as well as in building successful US biopharmaceutical companies.

From 1998 to 2013, Dr. Dina served as Chief Executive Officer of Dynavax Technologies Corporation and has been a member of Dynavax´ Board of Directors since 1997. During his tenure, he secured extensive financing through corporate alliances (UCB, Sanofi, AstraZeneca, GSK, Merck), private financings, an initial public offering (2004), and a series of public equity financings. Prior to joining Dynavax, Dr. Dina held a series of positions with increasing responsibility at Chiron Corporation, where he ultimately served as President of Chiron Vaccines. Under Dr. Dina’s direction, Chiron Vaccines received the first-ever approval of an adjuvanted influenza vaccine in Italy, successfully completed development of the first genetically engineered pertussis vaccine, and conducted clinical trials for vaccines to prevent HIV, herpes simplex type II, cytomegalovirus, and hepatitis B infections.

Company News: Immunology Data Further Underline the Positive Outcome of a Phase IIb Trial of Anergis´ Birch Pollen Allergy Vaccine AllerT

– Treatment with AllerT increases allergen-specific IgG4 antibody levels by a factor of 20

– AllerT administration produces humoral immune responses similar to conventional desensitization

Anergis, a company focusing on proprietary allergy vaccines, today reported immunology data from the Phase IIb study of its lead compound AllerT. In the trial, AllerT induced a strong increase of allergen-specific IgG4, a key marker of immunological responses typically observed in successful, conventional allergy immunotherapy (AIT, previously known as allergen-specific immunotherapy, or SIT). In September 2013, Anergis had reported that the trial showed significant clinical effects of AllerT on multiple efficacy endpoints, including combined symptom and medication scores assessed daily throughout the natural birch pollen season 2013.

In the placebo-controlled, double-blind, multicenter trial, a total of 240 patients from 24 European trial centers were randomized to receive 5 pre-seasonal injections of AllerT 50 μg, AllerT 100 μg, or placebo over a period of 2 months between November 2012 and March 2013.

Allergen-specific IgG4 antibody blood levels were similar in all three groups before treatment. Four weeks after completion of treatment and prior to the birch pollen season, the IgG4 levels were markedly and similarly increased in both AllerT dose groups by a factor of about 20 compared to baseline and to placebo (all tests p < 0.0001). During the subsequent birch pollen season, the IgG4 levels remained similarly elevated in both dose groups, showing that a plateau of IgG4 had been reached. By contrast, IgG4 levels remained unchanged in the placebo group during treatment and during the pollen season.

Anergis’ COP (Contiguous Overlapping Peptide) 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.

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