London, UK, 25th June, 2008 – MRC Technology (MRCT) (London, UK) and Intellect Neurosciences, Inc (OTCBB: ILNS) announced they have achieved an important milestone through their collaborative efforts to humanize Intellect’s lead antibody IN-N01 necessary for creating a therapeutic antibody for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. The antibody is intended to be used to promote clearance from the brain of the toxin that leads to Alzheimer’s disease, beta amyloid. IN-N01 is Intellect’s first drug candidate based on the technology invented by Dr. Daniel Chain, the Company’s Chairman and CEO.
Dr. Chain commented: “IN-N01 is designed to specifically block the neurotoxicity of beta amyloid, which accumulates in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients while minimizing the potential for adverse effects”. Dr. Chain added: “IN-N01 is similar to Bapineuzumab being developed independently by Wyeth and Elan Pharma International Ltd. (Elan) in that it binds the same portion of the toxin, but we are engineering IN-N01 with the aim of reducing its potential to cause inflammation in the brain and so increase the dose at which it can be administered safely. The effectiveness of our strategy will ultimately be tested in patient clinical trials. The recent announcement by Wyeth and Elan of Top Line Phase 2 positive data in a subset of patients is encouraging for this prototype drug and also opens a large window of opportunity for Intellect to develop next generation molecules. We hope that IN-N01 will be the Best-in-Class of the ANTISENILIN® antibody family and useful to treat a potentially broader population of Alzheimer’s patients”.
The Company recently announced that it has granted a royalty-bearing license to Wyeth and Elan Pharma International Ltd. (Elan) regarding patents and patent applications related to antibodies and methods of treatment for Alzheimer’s disease including a co-exclusive license to Bapineuzumab under the ANTISENILIN® patents.
“Mouse antibodies such as the precursor of IN-N01 are recognized as intrinsically immunogenic and therefore must undergo a process of humanization to create a therapeutic antibody” explained Dr. Tarran Jones, Therapeutic Antibody Group Director, MRCT. Dr. Jones commented, “We applied our expertise to create a detailed molecular model of IN-N01 to better understand which framework amino acids are important for the optimal activity and safety of the molecule. This work will be critical to the development of IN-N01 as a therapeutic antibody.”