BRUSSELS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Regulatory News:
ASIT biotech (Paris:ASIT) (BSE:ASIT) (Euronext: ASIT - BE0974289218), a Belgian biopharmaceutical company specialized in allergy immunotherapy, is today announcing that it has identified a new product candidate – pnt-ASIT+™ – for the treatment of peanut allergy through its collaboration1 with King’s College Hospital and Imperial College London.
The new product candidate was selected through in vitro testing conducted by Dr. Mohamed Shamji (Imperial College London) and his team on the blood cells of allergic patients enrolled by the team led by Dr. Stephen Till (King’s College Hospital). It consists of a mixture of natural peptides with an immunological signature equivalent to that of the gp-ASIT+™ product candidate (allergy to grass pollens), which has demonstrated its ability to trigger the immunological regulation mechanisms in an initial phase III clinical trial.
Dr. Mohamed Shamji, Senior Lecturer at Imperial College London, commented: “This is the first potential treatment for a food allergy created using peptides that induces less of an allergic reaction than intact allergens and stimulates the immune system’s appropriate regulation mechanisms. Confirmation of the hypoallergenic nature of ASIT+™’s peptides is very important for the treatment of food allergies, which can sometimes trigger a fatal response. I am also delighted that the results we obtained with this new allergen have again demonstrated the strength of the ASIT+™ platform for screening new active ingredients for allergy immunotherapy.”
Dr. Stephen Till, Reader at King’s College London and Consultant Allergist at Guy’s & St Thomas/NHS Foundation Trust, added: “I am proud to have been part of this international collaboration, which aims to develop new therapies for food allergies. The selection of a first ASIT+™ product based on hypoallergenic peptides for peanut allergy is a significant step in the development of new therapies for food allergies for which there is currently no approved treatment. I hope that we can soon undertake a first in human clinical trial in allergic patients to assess the potential of this new product.”
Thierry Legon, CEO of ASIT biotech, concluded: “Our ASIT+™ platform has generated various batches of peanut allergen fragments and screened them based on their immunological properties. The in vitro testing on the blood cells of allergic patients conducted by Dr. Shamji has established the optimum immunogenicity of a first product candidate for the development of a first treatment for peanut allergy based on hypoallergenic peptides. That represents a key milestone for the development of ASIT biotech, which is now able to target a new indication affecting millions of people around the world – many of them children – for which no approved treatment is currently available. The quality and accuracy of our new selection method for active ingredients – for which we recently filed a patent application – makes us confident about both the development of new drug candidates and their chances of success in the clinical development stages. We are already working on selecting further product candidates for house dust mite allergy and other food allergies, such as cow’s milk, to expand our portfolio of peptide-based innovative products for allergy immunotherapy.”
About ASIT biotech
ASIT biotech is a Belgian clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and future commercialization of a range of breakthrough immunotherapy products for the treatment of allergies. Thanks to its innovative ASIT+™ technology platform, ASIT biotech is currently the only developer of allergy immunotherapy (AIT) product candidates consisting of a unique mixture of highly purified natural allergen fragments in an optimal size selection. This innovation results in a short treatment, expected to improve patient compliance and real-life effectiveness. ASIT biotech’s product pipeline contains three novel ASIT+™ product candidates targeting respiratory allergies with the highest prevalence (i.e. grass pollen: gp-ASIT+™ and house dust mite: hdm-ASIT+™), and food allergies (peanut allergy: pnt-ASIT+™). These products could significantly expand the current immunotherapy market. The Company believes that its innovative ASIT+™ platform is flexible and would be applicable across a range of allergies.
ASIT biotech has a headcount of 26 staff members at its headquarters in Brussels and a laboratory in Liège, Belgium.
Further information can be found at www.asitbiotech.com.
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1 supported by a recoverable cash advance from the Walloon Region
