Alzheimer’s drug failure
ROCHE’S Alzheimer’s drug candidate could not be shown to slow dementia progression in two drug trials, leaving rivals Biogen and Eisai as leaders in a high-stakes race to launch a treatment for the memory-robbing disease.
Roche said on Monday (14) that twin studies known as Graduate 1 and 2 had not reached their main goal of showing that the drug gantenerumab could preserve abilities such as remembering, solving problems, orientation and personal care in patients suffering from early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.
The Swiss drugmaker conducted two identically designed studies, with 1,000
participants, who were examined and queried by physicians over more than two years. Within each study, volunteers were randomly assigned to receive either the injectable antibody drug gantenerumab or a placebo.
The drug was associated with a relative reduction in clinical decline of eight per cent in Graduate 1 and six per cent in Graduate 2 compared with the placebo, but those results were not statistically reliable, the company said.
The quest to develop an Alzheimer’s drug has been beset by failures. But rival Biogen in September scored a surprise trial success with an experimental Alzheimer’s drug that it developed with Eisai.