NEW YORK, July 21, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Intellect Neurosciences, Inc (OTCBB:ILNS), a biopharmaceutical company with an internal preclinical and clinical-stage pipeline and licenses with major pharmaceutical companies covering products in late-stage clinical trials, announced today that it has received a Notice of Allowance from the Japanese Patent Office related to the Company's RECALL-VAXTM technology platform. Patents for RECALL-VAXTM have been previously issued in Europe, the United States and other countries. RECALL-VAXTM is a method to immunize presymptomatic or symptomatic patients to produce highly specific natural antibodies against the beta amyloid ("Aβ") protein without interfering with the functions or metabolism of the important Amyloid Precursor Protein present at the connections between nerve cells. RECALL-VAXTM pinpoints the same unique molecular signatures at the ends of Aβ to reproduce specificity as that obtained by using the Company's ANTISENILIN® monoclonal antibody technology, which has been licensed to several major pharmaceutical companies. RECALL-VAXTM involves inoculating patients with a small piece of Aβ coupled to an innocuous bacterial protein with the goal of allowing the patient's immune system to generate antibodies that uniquely bind Aβ. Professor Benjamin Chain, Department of Immunology, UCL School of Life and Medical Sciences, London, UK, and brother of Dr. Daniel Chain, Intellect's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, is the inventor of RECALL-VAXTM. Professor Chain is a member of the Company's scientific advisory board.
Dr. Daniel Chain commented: "This new patent is yet another important milestone for the Company and adds a high value asset to our intellectual property portfolio, which is the envy of much larger pharmaceutical companies than Intellect. I am especially excited about RECALL-VAXTM, which is analogous to a flu shot, and has the potential to prevent, delay or treat millions of people who succumb to Alzheimer's disease. We look forward to developing drug candidates based on the RECALL-VAXTM technology with the aim of testing the vaccine in human clinical trials in patients at the earliest stage of the disease or even before symptoms occur. In addition to its use as an active vaccine, the technology has enabled us to develop a valuable library of highly specific monoclonal antibodies with possible therapeutic and diagnostic applications. We believe that RECALL-VAXTM is a strong competitor to the other vaccine approaches in development by major pharmaceutical companies.
About Alzheimer's Disease
Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia, is characterized by progressive loss of memory and cognition, ultimately leading to complete debilitation and death. A hallmark feature of Alzheimer's pathology is the presence of insoluble protein deposits, known as amyloid beta, on the surface of nerve cells, which results from the accumulation of soluble neurotoxic amyloid beta in the brain. The effects of the disease are devastating to patients as well as their caregivers, with significant associated health care costs. It is estimated that there are more than five million Americans and about 30 million people worldwide suffering from Alzheimer's disease, with the number expected to increase dramatically as the global population ages. Currently-marketed drugs transiently affect some symptoms of the disease, but there are no drugs on the market today that slow or arrest the progression of the disease. In the United States, Medicare spending on Alzheimer's disease is estimated to total $160 billion this year.
About Intellect Neurosciences, Inc.
Intellect Neurosciences, Inc. is a Manhattan-based biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of disease-modifying therapeutic agents for the treatment and prevention of Alzheimer's disease and other serious neurodegenerative disorders. The Company's most advanced internally developed product is OX1, which has been tested in Phase 1 clinical trials and has broad potential to treat diseases in which tissues, especially nervous tissue, are damaged by oxidative stress and amyloidosis. The Company plans to conduct clinical proof of concept patient trials for OX1 in Friedreich's Ataxia, a rare inherited disease that brings about free-radical mediated progressive damage to the nervous system as well as for other diseases.
The Company's ANTISENILIN® monoclonal antibody technology platform for treatment of Alzheimer's disease, invented fourteen years ago by Dr. Chain, targets beta amyloid, a protein widely believed to be an important contributor to the cognitive deficits seen in Alzheimer's disease. Importantly, ANTISENILIN® antibodies bind the major classes of beta amyloid, including soluble and plaque-bound forms, but avoid binding to the amyloid precursor protein from which beta amyloid is produced in the body. It is expected that this specificity may reduce the potential for adverse effects. Patents have been granted in Europe, Japan and several other countries with corresponding patent applications pending in the United States. The Company is developing IN-N01, a next generation humanized monoclonal and RECALL-VAXTM, a highly specific vaccine technology that has the potential to delay or prevent Alzheimer's disease in people who are at risk either by genetic predisposition or age.
Safe Harbor Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:
The statements in this release and oral statements made by representatives of Intellect relating to matters that are not historical facts (including, without limitation, those regarding future performance or financial results, the timing or potential outcomes of research collaborations or clinical trials, any market that might develop for any of Intellect's product candidates and the sufficiency of Intellect's cash and other capital resources) are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, the likelihood that actual performance or results could materially differ, that future research will prove successful, the likelihood that any product in the research pipeline will receive regulatory approval in the United States or abroad, or Intellect's ability to fund such efforts with or without partners. Intellect undertakes no obligation to update any of these statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as to the date hereof. Accordingly, any forward-looking statements should be read in conjunction with the additional risks and uncertainties detailed in Intellect's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including those factors discussed under the caption "Risk Factors" in Intellect's Annual Report on Form 10-K (file no. 333-128226), filed on October 13, 2010, and information contained in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the three month period ended March 31, 2011, filed on May 23, 2011.