AC Immune's ACI-24.060 anti-amyloid beta vaccine shows promise for Alzheimer's

US traded shares of AC Immune (Nasdaq: ACIU) were up more than 9% at $2.56 in pre-market activity today, as the Swiss biotech said its ACI-24.060 anti-amyloid beta (Abeta) vaccine for Alzheimer's disease (AD) showed positive initial interim safety and immunogenicity in a Phase Ib/II trial dubbed ABATE.

The ABATE study will now be expanded, as planned, to include individuals with Down syndrome (DS) and to evaluate higher doses in Alzheimer’s patients.

AC Immune is also developing ACI-35.030, a potential first-in-class anti-tau vaccine candidate, in collaborations with Johnson & Johnson's (NYSE: JNJ) Janssen unit. Additionally, the company is developing the anti-amyloid beta antibody crenezumab to slow or prevent Alzheimer’s disease in cognitively unimpaired people who carry a specific genetic mutation which causes early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.