(RTTNews) - AC Immune SA (ACIU), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, on Friday released new preliminary data from the Phase 1 trial for the TDP43-PET tracer ACI-19626, indicating higher uptake in patients of amyloid lateral sclerosis (ALS). The data was presented at the 2026 Summit Advancing TDP43 Biomarkers hosted by the University of Wisconsin.

TDP-43 is the main component in inclusions found in the brains of patients suffering from certain neurodegenerative disorders like frontotemporal dementia (FTD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy (LATE), and co-pathologies of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. The diagnosis of these diseases is complex due to the absence of reliable biomarkers. TDP-43 is being explored as a biomarker to specifically diagnose neurological proteinopathies.

The ACI-19626 tracer enables visualization of the TDP-43 markers in the brain using Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanning.

The ongoing Phase 1 trial for ACI-19626 consists of Part 1, conducted on healthy patients, and Part 2, enrolling up to 30 patients with FTD, ALS, and LATE. Preliminary results suggest a higher uptake of the tracer in patients with ALS, validated with released PET data.

The study has also established a pharmacokinetic profile of ACI-19626, confirming its suitability in human brain imaging.

ACIU closed Friday at $2.83, down 0.70%.

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