{"id":1568,"date":"2020-10-06T11:32:46","date_gmt":"2020-10-06T09:32:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demoucelle.sites-stag.agency\/uncategorized\/new-parkinsons-disease-diagnostic-tools-to-support-treatment-research-ac-immunes-chief-scientific-officer\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T08:40:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T06:40:28","slug":"new-parkinsons-disease-diagnostic-tools-to-support-treatment-research-ac-immunes-chief-scientific-officer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demoucelle.sites-stag.agency\/fr\/uncategorized\/new-parkinsons-disease-diagnostic-tools-to-support-treatment-research-ac-immunes-chief-scientific-officer\/","title":{"rendered":"New Parkinson\u2019s Disease diagnostic tools to support treatment research \u2013 AC Immune\u2019s chief scientific officer"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"-<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Dr. Marie H. Kosco-Vilbois is excited!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As chief scientific officer at AC Immune SA, she believes that the Swiss biopharmaceutical company or others will be able to develop new treatments for Parkinson\u2019s Disease within the next decade thanks in part to the diagnostic tools AC Immune is developing to better diagnose and track the incurable neurodegenerative condition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are very hopeful that \u2026 within 10 years it will be possible to ensure that the disease is less severe and that its progression is slower \u2026 for those (patients) for whom monotherapies are sufficient,\u201d <\/span><\/em>Dr. Kosco-Vilbois told the Demoucelle Parkinson Charity during an online interview from her office in Lausanne. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want to be able to go from a situation of a chronic, long-term disease to a time where no one has to live with Parkinson\u2019s.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What will help to accelerate treatment research is having safe and effective ways to reveal and trace Parkinson\u2019s Disease in the blood and brains of living patients. AC Immune is working on developing \u2018tracers\u2019 that \u2018light up\u2019 damaging clumps of the alpha-synuclein protein in patients\u2019 brains during a (PET) scan ensuring accurate diagnoses and improving clinical trials of potential treatments. The Nasdaq-listed company has received significant further funding from The Michael J. Fox Foundation<\/a> in the summer and a third grant from the Demoucelle Parkinson Charity in support of its\u2019 work on the PET tracers. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Kosco-Vilbois said she believes work on the development of these all-important diagnostic tools is reaching a tipping point as the company begins clinical trials in partnership with Prof. Oskar Hansson\u2019s team at Lund University and Sk\u00e5ne University Hospital in Sweden. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s really exciting in the field of neurodegenerative diseases is that we are at a threshold from not knowing precisely what is going on within the brain to having imaging and blood tests that will provide critical information. For me, the progress made in the last 18 to 24 months is unprecedented and fantastic. You\u2019ve got to know what you have in order to treat it.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"-<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Alongside the development of PET tracers, AC Immune is itself also developing potential treatments for Parkinson\u2019s Disease and it is the potential for these different lines of research to intersect that gets Dr. Kosco-Vilbois so excited.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWithin two years we aim to be able to use the PET tracers as part of clinical trials where a (AC Immune-developed) therapy for Parkinson\u2019s is being tested,\u201d <\/span><\/em>she said.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US and Swiss-trained scientist, who has spent her career working in immunology and guiding – drugs from the laboratory to market, sees similarities between the way research in her former fields of autoimmunity and cancer quickened pace as multiple lines of inquiry intersected and led to vital breakthroughs. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor decades, research has slowly illuminated the complicated nature of the disease process. Taking a page from cancer (research), where different avenues of investigation finally came together, allowing us to put forward effective diagnosis and treatments, we hope this will also be the case for Parkinson\u2019s,\u201d<\/span><\/em> Dr. Kosco-Vilbois said.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, Dr. Kosco-Vilbois was at pains to sound a note of caution: that even with possible ground-breaking treatments seemingly so tantalisingly close, it is vital that no steps be missed in the process of developing a reliable diagnostic tool or treatment.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want benefits. Not surprises!<\/span><\/em> There <\/em><\/span>is a process to follow in clinical trials. We have to be certain the therapies are safe and effective \u2026 however, we can use the novel imaging PET tracer to improve and speed up the outcome. We are going as fast as possible but always with patient safety first.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interestingly, the way companies and regulators are working together to accelerate the development of a safe and effective vaccine for Covid-19 also offers learnings and insights for clinical trials of treatments for neurodegenerative diseases, Dr. Kosco-Vilbois said, while noting that AC Immune had been able to continue with its research despite the challenges of Covid-19.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“<\/span><\/em>Research never stopped for us. We had to be careful of course and come up with innovative ways to face these challenges. However, there has not been much of an impact on our output.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"-<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Looking ahead at how best to support and even accelerate research, Dr. Dr. Kosco-Vilbois pointed to the importance of having sufficient funding from the private and public sectors, gaining recognition through international contests such as the Ken Griffin Alpha-Synuclein Imaging Competition, of which AC Immune was a recent award recipient<\/a>, and networking to establish collaborations with other scientists and patient groups.<\/em> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps unsurprisingly, given Dr. Kosco-Vilbois\u2019s clear love of science, innovation and its potential to transform lives, she ended the interview by sharing that her approach both to business and personal life involves applying good scientific principles with a large dose of boldness! <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cListen. Observe. Generate volumes of data you can swear by. And then, never shy away from a challenge. Meet it head on. Don\u2019t sweep it under the rug.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AC Immune\u2019s Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Marie H. Kosco-Vilbois discusses how the development of a diagnostic tool to safely and effectively diagnose and monitor Parkinson\u2019s Disease can support research into pioneering treatments.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1569,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demoucelle.sites-stag.agency\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demoucelle.sites-stag.agency\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demoucelle.sites-stag.agency\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demoucelle.sites-stag.agency\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demoucelle.sites-stag.agency\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1568"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/demoucelle.sites-stag.agency\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1572,"href":"https:\/\/demoucelle.sites-stag.agency\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1568\/revisions\/1572"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demoucelle.sites-stag.agency\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demoucelle.sites-stag.agency\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demoucelle.sites-stag.agency\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demoucelle.sites-stag.agency\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}