Boost for Alzheimer’s patients after drug trial success

A NEW Alzheimer’s drug that reverses the damage the disease causes in patients’ brains could ‘change the landscape’ of future treatment, according to researchers.

It has already performed so well at early-stage trials involving people living with the disease in the United States that scientists are now in talks aimed at leapfrogging the usual second stage and fasttracking it for larger trials.

Pharmaceutical firm Biogen, which developed the drug, called aduncanumab, wants to recruit at least 1,000 patients for tests by the end of the year. It is not yet known if this will include any from the UK.

There are currently half a million people in the UK living with Alzheimer’s, and as yet there is no cure.

‘A lot of potential Alzheimer’s drugs never quite make it,’ says Biogen spokesman Kate Niazo-Sai.

‘But the results we have seen in a relatively small patient sample are very hopeful. If this was replicated in a further trial, then it could change the landscape for treatment of Alzheimer’s.’

The trial shows that aduncanumab significantly reduces amyloid plaque – clumps of protein typically found in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.

This plaque can lead to the death of nerve cells and loss of brain tissue, causing devastating symptoms such as memory loss and personality changes.

Dr Eric Karran, director of research at Alzheimer’s Research UK, says the drug could prove an effective – and safe – treatment.

He adds: ‘These are very promising early results. It will be important to see results from much larger trials before we can understand how effective this treatment may be.’

The year-long early-stage trial saw 166 patients with mild or early symptoms of Alzheimer’s given either aduncanumab in varying doses, or a placebo.

Brain scans revealed that those patients on the strongest dose showed the most significant improvement in amyloid plaque by the end of the trial.

Patients were also given a number of ability tests and it was found that those on the highest dose had a ‘significant slowing’ of mental decline, while those taking the placebo declined the most.

The findings were unveiled at the 12th international conference on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases held in the French city of Nice last week.