ANNUAL REPORT - Pevion Biotech AG

Alzheimer’s disease
Alzheimer’s disease is one of the leading causes of dementia, a worldwide
problem. This neurodegenerative disease disrupts cognitive and memory
abilities and memory by the progressive accumulation of Aß peptides in
areas of the brain serving cognitive functions. AD affects about 10% of the
world’s population above 65 years of age. In this population there are
currently about 8.3 million Alzheimer’s patients. As age advances, the
incidence increases rapidly. One in 10 persons over 65 years of age and
nearly half of those over 85 years of age suffer from AD.
Primary prevention of Alzheimer's disease is not possible at present.
Currently marketed products only provide partial and temporary relief from
AD’s symptoms. They have failed to live up to the public's high expectations
and offer such modest benefits that many doctors have doubts about
prescribing them. Accordingly, there is no satisfactory cure for this disease
and there is a large demand for an effective therapeutic vaccine.
Alzheimer’s disease is a dementia that is defined by the presence of
extracellular amyloid plaques in the brain, composed mainly of amyloid
peptides. Several studies in transgenic mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease
have revealed the potency of vaccination to prevent or even clear amyloid
plaques Aß from mouse brain. Pevion Biotech’s Alzheimer’s disease vaccine
is based on a conformationally optimized Aß epitope which is formulated
with PeviPRO TM to favor a highly specific antibody immune response. Pevion
Biotech’s vaccine candidate is currently in preclinical development. The
manufacturing of the vaccine under GMP standard is currently established
including the corresponding analytical methods.
Currently, the company is seeking partners for this project which aims to
keep focusing on its key competences like prevention and treatment of
infectious diseases.
Malaria
Malaria is one of the major public health challenges in the world’s
developing countries. It is endemic in a total of 101 countries and territories
across Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and South America, inhabited by a total
of 2.4 billion people – 40% of the world's population. Among the three
different pathogens, Plasmodium falciparum is the most dangerous one.
Each year, 300 to 500 million malaria infections occur and more than 2
million people die. The vast majority of deaths occur among young children.
Malaria has worsened in recent decades because some strains of the malaria
parasite have developed resistance to drug treatments and mosquitoes have
become impervious to insecticides.
The malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum has a complex life cycle
involving three stages in the human body - the pre-erythrocytic stage, the
blood stage and the sexual stage. The different stages are “visible” on the
parasite itself, since it expresses stage-specific proteins on its surface. These
proteins quite often bear antigens, which are prime targets for a malaria
vaccine. Thus it is possible to design a vaccine specific for each stage. It is
Pevion Biotech’s goal to develop a vaccine through which the parasite is
attacked in different stages of its life cycle. It therefore focuses on a multicomponent
(multi-valent) malaria vaccine: each component targets another
antigen specific for a defined development stage. Such a multi-component
vaccine induces synergistic protective effects and reduces the chance of the
selection of resistant strains. Pevion Biotech uses its well-established
virosome technology platform PeviPRO TM for the delivery of the newly
developed peptide antigens. Pevion Biotech tested and optimized malaria
peptides for their application as component of a multi-valent malaria
vaccine. In consequent steps the company developed the vaccine
formulations to clinical phase II which started in Q4 2005.
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