OXFORD, England, June 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --
-Results Presented at Plenary Symposium
ofEuropeanAcademyof
Allergy and Clinical Immunology Congress
-Cat Allergy T-cell Vaccine to Begin Phase
III Testing in H1 2012
Circassia Ltd, a specialty biopharmaceutical company focused on
allergy, today announced the results of a phase II clinical trial
showing that patients who received four doses of its ToleroMune®
cat allergy vaccine over a 12-week period maintained a
statistically significant reduction in symptoms one year later.
The results of the study were presented in the opening
Plenary Symposium of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical
Immunology Congress on Sunday 12 June by Professor Mark Larché,
Canada Research Chair in Allergy and Immune Tolerance at McMaster
University, Canada.
The study followed an earlier randomised double-blind phase II
trial in 202 cat allergy patients, in which those who received four
doses of Circassia's T-cell vaccine over 12 weeks had a
significantly greater improvement in their symptoms than those on
placebo. The treatment was extremely well tolerated.
The new results show that one year after the start of the
original study, the treated group's tolerance to cat allergens was
maintained, and had continued to improve substantially following
the completion of the treatment, despite the patients receiving no
booster doses. As a result, immediately following treatment,
the patients had experienced a 94% improvement in their total
rhinitis symptoms compared with placebo. By the end of the
12-month study, the ToleroMune T-cell vaccine had reduced the same
patients' symptoms by 133% more than placebo (p=0.01). This
treatment effect is 2.6 - 4.3 times that achieved by several
currently approved allergy therapies in key clinical trials.
Commenting on the study results, Professor Mark Larché,CanadaResearch Chair in Allergy and Immune
Tolerance,McMasterUniversity, said, "Maintaining
such a significant level of symptom improvement over an extended
period is a major step forward. Achieving this with a course
of just four doses is unprecedented, and represents an important
breakthrough that has the potential to lead to improved treatments
for allergy sufferers worldwide."
"We are extremely excited by these new clinical results, which
again demonstrate the potential of our ToleroMune technology to
revolutionise allergy treatment," said Steve Harris,
Circassia's CEO. "These results,
achieved with our commercial room-temperature-stable formulation,
clearly show that Circassia's T-cell vaccines offer the prospect of
major clinical and manufacturing benefits over traditional
immunotherapies. We intend to capitalise on these impressive
results as quickly as possible, and having recently completed one
of the largest private fundraisings in the history of European
biotechnology, plan to advance our cat allergy treatment into phase
III testing in 2012."
About Circassia's allergy T-cell
vaccines
Circassia is developing a range of allergy T-cell vaccines based
on its proprietary ToleroMune® technology. The company has
successfully completed a number of phase II studies with its cat,
house dust mite and ragweed allergy products, and its grass allergy
therapeutic is in clinical testing. Clinical results to date
show that short treatment regimes with Circassia's T-cell vaccines
can greatly reduce patients' allergic reactions, without the need
for adjuvants or other immune stimulators, while proving extremely
well tolerated. As a result, the treatments offer major
potential clinical benefits compared with existing therapies, and
have significant market opportunities. Over 150 million
people suffer from allergic rhinitis in the US and Europe, and the
current treatment market is approximately $12 billion per year.
AboutCircassia
Circassia was founded in 2006 by a team of highly experienced
biotechnology scientists and entrepreneurs, and is chaired by the
former Chairman of GlaxoSmithKline, Sir Richard Sykes. The
company is based in the UK on the Oxford Science Park, and in
Hamilton, Canada, where its joint venture Adiga Life Sciences is
located. Its ToleroMune technology was developed originally
by scientists at Imperial College, London. Having
successfully completed four fundraising rounds Circassia is backed
by a syndicate of world-class venture capital and institutional
investors, including Imperial Innovations and Invesco
Perpetual.
Contacts
Steve Harris
CEO
Circassia
Tel: +44(0)1865-784574
http://www.circassia.co.uk
Rob Budge
RJB Communications
Tel: +44(0)1865-760969
Mobile: +44(0)7710-741241