Researchers at the University of New Mexico are preparing to launch a phase 1 clinical trial for an Alzheimer's vaccine after receiving $1 million from the Alzheimer’s Association.
This follows research published in “Alzheimer’s and Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association” that found the experimental vaccine created a strong immune response in mice and monkeys.
Almost 7 million people in the U.S. are living with Alzheimer's disease and
according to the Alzheimer's Association treatment costs for those folks are projected to reach $384 billion this year and will soar to $1 trillion by 2050.
Kiran Bhaskar, a professor with the Department of Molecular Genetics & Microbiology in the UNM School of Medicine, said considering this, the hope is for the vaccine is to produce a durable response by targeting what are called tau tangles that lead to significant cognitive and memory decline. He explained that the vaccine will target gunk built up in the brain that causes the tangles to form.
“We are just tricking the immune system to think that there is a viral attack and is going to make antibodies against the tau tangles and then that will keep making antibodies that is very long lasting,” said Bhaskar.
The vaccine was developed using a virus-like particle platform developed by Bhaskar’s colleagues, Bryce Chackerian and David Peabody in the Department of Molecular Genetics & Microbiology. At this time, the FDA has approved several drugs that target proteins involved in Alzheimer's but they don’t slow progression, therefore UNM researchers took a different approach by looking at the tau tangles.
Up to this point in the research, Bhaskar and his fellow researchers, including post-doctoral researcher Nicole Maphis, have seen promising results in monkeys, where the vaccine’s protein was able to trigger an immune system response that would eliminate those tau tangles, leading to improvements in cognitive function.
Bhaskar said that by this time next year his team would like to see Phase 1 of the clinical trial in effect, which will look at safety and whether participants can take the vaccine without side effects.
Looking ahead, if successful with patient screening, Phase 2 would aim to see if the vaccine is effective in human patients.
Bhaskar explained that support for a vaccine trial can be difficult since it takes seven to eight years to bring any medicine to market but he is hoping to get support not only from big pharmaceutical companies, but also local donors in the future.
Support for this coverage comes from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
