New dawn in battle against Alzheimer’s

First drug that slows disease could be on NHS in 3 years

THE first drug to slow the devastating advance of Alzheimer’s disease has been unveiled by scientists.

Experts hailed the breakthrough as a turning point in the fight against the disease, for which there has until now been no effective treatment.

The drug, solanezumab, reduced the rate of mental decline in patients who took it by a third, according to the results of early trials published yesterday.

The findings raise hopes of the first real treatment for Alzheimer’s, which affects half a million Britons.

If the early results are replicated in further tests, the drug could be available to NHS patients within three years.

Slowing the development of dementia would allow people to live independently for longer, delaying the point at which they have to give up work and go into care. Experts estimate that delaying the onset of Alzheimer’s by five years could halve the number who die with the condition, currently a third of over-65s.

Existing drugs for dementia simply address the symptoms of the disease, without tackling the underlying causes. But solanezumab, the result of 26 years of research, seems to be the first to slow the progress of the disease itself.

Evidence presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Washington DC yesterday suggests that patients who take the drug early in their illness may retain more of their brain function. Over 18 months, those who took the drug via a monthly intravenous injection performed better in memory and thinking tests.

On average, the rate of their decline was 34 per cent slower than those who did not take the drug. The findings, based on a study of more than 1,000 patients, need to be verified in a larger trial which reports back late next year.

But experts last night welcomed the results as the most significant breakthrough in Alzheimer’s research in years.

Dr Doug Brown, head of research at Alzheimer’s Society, said: ‘This is a turning point. It is great to have some good news, given that in the last ten years we haven’t had a single new treatment.’

He said that the drug was not expected to be a cure but that i ts development will help researchers focus on similar drugs which might one day stop the disease completely.

‘These findings are the first that confirm we can do more than just try to treat the symptoms,’ he said. ‘If we can slow it down with a treatment like that, it gives us greater avenues for research to explore.’

Solanezumab, manufactured by the US drugs firm Eli Lilly, works by targeting protein that forms in the brain. This protein produces sticky clumps that are thought to interfere with brain cells.

The findings, published in the j ournal Alzheimer’s And Dementia, come after years of disappointments.

Earlier tests of solanezumab seemed to show that the drug was not as effective as hoped.

But when the scientists looked more carefully at the data they found that those who had taken the drug at the earliest stage of the disease showed far slower decline.

To confirm their findings, they started giving the drug to all 1,024 patients in the trial – including those who had previously taken only a placebo or dummy pill. This latter group, whose mental ability had been declining rapidly, showed a slowing in mental deterioration – suggesting that the drug was tackling the processes driving the disease.

However, those who had started taking the drug first were still doing better than those who started on the placebo, suggesting early treatment is much more effective.

Eli Lilly says its final trial results will be published by the end of next year. Shares in the firm rose 1 per cent after the news was made public.

According to experts, it takes an average of a year for a drug to be approved by safety regulators and a further year to be approved for NHS use by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. So solanezumab could be available on the NHS by the end of 2018.

Dr Eric Karran, director of research at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said: ‘The results provide encouraging evidence that solanezumab could indeed be acting on the disease processes that drive Alzheimer’s.

‘The ultimate test will be whether t hese promising effects repeat again in the [next stage of the] trial.’

Professor Richard Morris, a neuroscientist at the University of Edinburgh, said: ‘I am cautiously optimistic. This is not a mouse study, it’s a people study. And that matters.’

The Washington conference heard that another drug, aducanumab, also shows signs of shrinking the protein deposits linked to Alzheimer’s.

‘This is a turning point’

‘Results are encouraging’