Vaccine for the Treatment of Chronic and Acute Inflammatory Disorders

Debio-0512 is a keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH)-human TNFa heterocomplex (hTNFa kinoid). The results of this study were presented on March 10, 2007, at the 4th International Conference on Tumor Microenvironment in Florence, Italy. Debiopharm, Inc. (Lausanne, Switzerland), a global independent biopharmaceutical development company specializing in oncology and serious medical conditions, developed the vaccine.

"These results confirm that therapeutic vaccination against human TNFa could represent in the future, an effective approach for the treatment of TNFa-dependent inflammatory pathologies including rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn's disease,” said Prof. Daniel Zagury of the University Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris, France) and co-author of the report. "Debiopharm's plan is for IND [Investigational New Drug] enabling clinical studies to be ready by the end of this year. We believe that active immunization may offer advantages over passive anti-TNFa monoclonal antibody therapy, by potentially limiting therapeutic failure related to the formation of anti-idiotypic antibodies. Moreover, the potential low frequency of boost immunizations would increase patient compliance.”

TNFa is a well-established pro-inflammatory mediator. In hTNFa expressing transgenic mice (TTg mice), a mouse model of rheumatoid arthritis, animals receiving the Debio-0512 therapeutic vaccine developed high levels of anti-TNFa antibodies, neutralizing both TNFa bioactivity and binding of TNFa to its receptor. This study shows that immunization with Debio-0512 effectively controls pathogenic effects triggered by TNFa in this mouse model of rheumatoid arthritis.


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