In the Conference session “From Disease Insights to Therapeutic Options” held on Monday, May 16th, Dr. Neil Cashman, ProMIS CSO and a member of the Conference Advisory Committee, delivered an oral presentation, entitled: “Abeta oligomers in Alzheimer’s disease: target engagement and target distraction.”
A large body of scientific data has implicated misfolded oligomers as the toxic molecular species of amyloid-beta (Abeta) relevant to Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In his presentation, Dr. Cashman discussed the importance of selectivity for toxic Abeta oligomers in order to avoid “target distraction”, namely the absorption of antibodies by monomers which can reduce effective targeting of oligomers, and binding to plaque and vascular deposits which has been associated with adverse events such as brain edema.
The ProMIS proprietary computational platform allows for the design of conformational epitopes exposed on toxic, misfolded proteins but not on normal forms of the same protein. This discovery platform has been applied successfully to several targets for the generation of antibodies selective for misfolded proteins implicated in neurodegeneration. As presented by Dr. Cashman, this process is exemplified by PMN310, a monoclonal antibody with selectivity for toxic Abeta oligomers that is being developed by ProMIS as a candidate for the treatment of AD.
The Neuro4D is an international conference on Neurodegenerative Disease Drug Discovery bringing together drug discovery companies, service and technology providers, and academic innovators in the field of proteopathic neurodegenerative diseases in a highly interactive format.
ProMIS Neurosciences Inc. is a development stage biotechnology Corporation focused on discovering and developing antibody therapeutics selectively targeting toxic oligomers implicated in the development and progression of neurodegenerative diseases, in particular Alzheimer’s disease (AD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and multiple system atrophy (MSA). The Corporation’s proprietary target discovery engine is based on the use of two complementary techniques. The Corporation applies its 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 Corporation is developing novel antibody therapeutics for AD, ALS and MSA. ProMIS is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada with offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A. ProMIS is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) under symbol PMN, and on the OTCQB Venture Market under symbol ARFXF.
