AFFiRiS starts first clinical trial with Parkinson's vaccine candidate PD01A

The worldwide first clinical trial for the development of a Parkinson´s vaccine has now been started by Austrian company AFFiRiS AG. The vaccine, called PD01A, is directed against alpha-Synuclein, a protein considered causing the onset and progression of the disease, and is currently being tested on Parkinson´s patients in a Phase I trial.

The vaccine holds out the prospect to deliver a causative treatment of Parkinson´s for the first time. Taking place in Vienna and involving up to 32 patients, the primary endpoints of the trial are safety and tolerability of PD01A, the company noted.

AFFiRiS said this vaccine represents the first agent worldwide aiming at disease modification of Parkinson´s rather than addressing symptomatic improvement only. PD01A targets a protein called alpha-Synuclein (alpha-syn) which plays a key role in the onset and progression of Parkinson’s. The vaccination aims to educate the immune system to generate antibodies directed against alpha-syn. The trial will be conducted at the Confraternitat Privatklinik Josefstadt in Vienna and will involve up to 32 patients.