European consortium to develop Parkinson’s vaccine

A therapeutic vaccine for Parkinson’s disease (PD) and multiple system atrophy (MSA) is the primary objective of a group of leading research teams across Europe, Austrian pharmaceutical company Affiris announced April 28.

The project is being called SYMPATH. The researchers, based in Austria, Germany and France, are calling the two candidates PD01A and PD03A. The project is bankrolled for 48 months of development.

"This clinical testing strategy developed by the SYMPATH consortium sets a new standard for therapeutic vaccines and disease-modifying agents in neurodegenerative diseases such as PD and MSA," said Achim Schneeberger, MD, director of clinical development at Affiris and coordinator of SYMPATH, in a press release.   

The consortium’s vaccine research is being financed by the European Union and focuses on two different mechanisms of effect. They both involve alpha-synuclein. The biomarkers will serve both therapeutic and diagnostic functions in order for researchers to monitor response to therapy.

"Based on recent research in neurodegenerative diseases, we have chosen to target not only PD, but also MSA with PD01A and PD03A,” said Wassilios Meissner, MD, from the University Hospital Bordeaux in Bordeaux, France. “If successful, this would address an additional and intense unmet clinical need as MSA is an orphan disease with no registered therapy. Our approach might at the same time provide new scientific insights into the common origin of PD and MSA.”

The researchers are looking into synucleinopathies, or diseases with Lewy bodies comprised of aggregations of alpha-synuclein. MSA is considered one of those and is being used as a clinical reference for other diseases with the same characteristics.