CYT006-AngQb

The so called renin-angiotensin system (RAS) is an important regulator of blood pressure and has already been successfully targeted by three major classes of antihypertensive drugs: by ACE inhibitors, by ARBs and by renin inhibitors. However, like other antihypertensives, they all have to be self-administered daily and don't provide a good solution for improving patient compliance. CYT006-AngQb is a therapeutic vaccine designed to instruct the patient’s immune system to produce a specific anti-angiotensin II antibody response. Angiotensin II is a small hormone in the body and part of the RAS. It causes blood vessels to narrow, resulting in an increase in blood pressure. Vaccination of humans with CYT006-AngQb has been shown to induce angiotensin II specific antibodies that should inhibit binding of angiotensin II to its receptors and thus reduce the narrowing of blood vessels. As first clinical data indicate, the achieved blood pressure reduction was particularly pronounced in the early morning when the vaccine effect suppressed the naturally occurring morning rise in blood pressure.