A clinical trial of a new drug shows promising results for those suffering early-stage Alzheimer’s.
The trial of the monoclonal antibody aducanumab showed that it removed amyloid plaques – created as a result of normal metabolism – from the brains of patients with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease. It is thought that the condition may be caused by an inability of the brain to remove these plaques which can damage brain cells.
Aducanumab has been developed in a collaboration between pharmaceutical company Biogen and Neurimmune.
After one year, in patients receiving aducanumab, the levels of amyloid plaques, visualised using positron emission tomography (PET), were substantially reduced. There was also evidence that aducanumab slowed cognitive decline in these patients. Importantly, if confirmed by future trials, these results provide compelling support for the hypothesis that amyloid build-up is a key factor in driving cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease.
The results have been published in Nature magazine.
“These early studies of aducanumab show its effectiveness in removing amyloid plaque from the brain as well as its potential effect on the slowing of cognitive decline in patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease,” said Alfred Sandrock, executive vice president and chief medical officer at Biogen.
Professor Roger Nitsch, president of Neurimmune said: “These results potentially represent a major step forward in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease; the magnitudes of the effects as well as their time- and dose-dependency are truly intriguing
“Aducanumab also demonstrates a proof-of-concept for our RTM technology platform. It gives us further evidence that our approach is working and provides promise for many of the other drugs we are developing using this technology.”