Eisai, Biogen say Alzheimer's drug succeeds in slowing cognitive decline

 An experimental Alzheimer's drug developed by Eisai Co Ltd and Biogen Inc significantly slowed cognitive and functional decline in a large trial of patients in the early stages of the disease, the companies said on Tuesday.

The injected drug, lecanemab, slowed progress of the brain-wasting disease by 27% compared to a placebo, meeting the study's main goal, and offering an apparent win for the companies and potentially for patients and their families desperate for an effective treatment.

Eisai said the results from the 1,800-patient trial prove the longstanding theory that removal of sticky deposits of a protein called amyloid beta from the brains of people with early Alzheimer's can delay advance of the debilitating disease.

"It's not a huge effect, but it's a positive effect," said Ronald Petersen, director of the Mayo Clinic Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center in Rochester, Minnesota, adding that the results were extremely important for Alzheimer's research.

"This means that treating amyloid is a step in the right direction," he said.

Wall Street analysts, such as Salim Syed at Mizuho Securities, have said the results would be considered a "win" if lecanemab slowed the rate of decline by around 25%, and that shares of both companies could jump on the news.

Shares of Biogen and Eisai were halted, but shares of Eli Lilly & Co, which is also developing an Alzheimer's drug, were up 6.7% in after hours trade.

Lecanemab, like the companies' previous drug Aduhelm, is an antibody designed to remove those amyloid deposits. Unlike Aduhelm, lecanemab targets forms of amyloid that have not yet clumped together.

The so-called amyloid hypothesis has been challenged by some scientists, particularly after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's controversial approval of Aduhelm in 2021 based on its plaque-clearing ability rather than proof that it helped slow cognitive decline. The decision came after the FDA's own panel of outside experts had advised against approval.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-eisai-biogen-alzheimers-drug-001718294.html