Empowered Patient Podcast Antibody Drug Targets Toxic Amyloid Oligomers from Alzheimer’s Disease with Dr. Eric Siemers Acumen Pharma
Dr. Eric Siemers, Medical Officer at Acumen Pharma, is developing a monoclonal antibody called sabirnetug that targets a specific toxic form of amyloid beta, Aβ oligomers. These oligomers are now believed to be a key driver of neuronal damage in Alzheimer's disease. The drug is in phase 2 clinical trials to evaluate its ability to slow cognitive decline in early-stage Alzheimer's patients and demonstrate the accuracy of biomarkers in identifying pathology before symptoms appear.
Eric explains, "We've identified, and this is a monoclonal antibody, a monoclonal antibody with a unique mechanism of action in that it targets what are called Aβ oligomers. And without going into all the details, these Aβ oligomers are now really felt to be the toxic species, the ones that cause the neurons to die, and the two drugs that have recently gotten approval sort of indirectly get at those toxic species, maybe one more than the other. But in our case, we're directly targeting what we think is the most toxic species. And so the progress in the field is wonderful, and nobody can say that it's not, or take anything away from that, but nobody's cured the disease either. Now we know we've got a toehold, we know an approach, and Acumen is using an antibody because of this unique target. We think of it as a next-generation treatment for Alzheimer's disease."
"We've known about these Alzheimer's plaques for a long time, but what's more recent is understanding some of these intermediate species. And so these Aβ oligomers we target are oligo, meaning a few. So, anywhere from 2 to 200 of these Aβ stuck together. The Aβs are basically inherently sticky. And so the things we're most interested in are probably 10 of the Aβ together up to say 50, which seems to be the sweet spot."
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