We are happy to announce our support to the upcoming new phase of the pet tracer project of AC\u00a0IMMUNE, a Swiss\u00a0biopharmaceutical company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the Parkinson patients\u2019 brain, alpha-synuclein is a protein that becomes toxic to brain cells once it is aggregated into clumps. That is why this protein is considered the most promising target for a so-called \u201cdisease-modifying\u201d Parkinson\u2019s therapy\u00a0(i.e. a therapy that slows, stops or even reverses the progression of the disease).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At present, it is impossible to measure the level of alpha-synuclein in a living brain. Yet, this information is critical to\u00a0diagnose PD earlier<\/strong>,\u00a0track the progression<\/strong>\u00a0of the disease over time, and\u00a0evaluate the efficacy of therapeutics<\/strong>\u00a0aimed at reducing alpha-synuclein aggregates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To respond to this challenge, AC Immune is developing an alpha-synuclein tracer that features a radioactive tag which binds selectively to alpha-synuclein in the brain and can be read by a positron emission tomography (PET) scan. It is the first time ever that such a\u00a0selective alpha-synuclein\u00a0PET tracer\u00a0<\/strong>will\u00a0be tested on humans.\u00a0If the trial is successful, the tracer could be used\u00a0in ongoing trials\u00a0for\u00a0Parkinson treatments.\u00a0In addition, it could be used for other related brain diseases and thus have a widespread application and impact!<\/p>\n\n\n\n