Alzheimer’s Drug Slows Decline In Memory And Thinking In Phase 2 Trial

The pharmaceutical companies Eisai and Biogen have presented results of a phase 2 clinical trial of the potential Alzheimer’s disease drug, BAN2401. The presentation at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference 2018 in Chicago, was the first look at data from the trial and follows an earlier announcement of positive results.

BAN2401 successfully reduced levels of the hallmark Alzheimer’s protein amyloid in the brains of participants in the mild stages of Alzheimer’s disease and led to a slower decline in memory and thinking skills over an 18 month period.

Dr David Reynolds, Chief Scientific Officer of Alzheimer’s Research UK, said:

“These are encouraging findings and suggest that the anti-amyloid drug BAN2401 may be able to effectively tackle Alzheimer’s disease-processes and, crucially, make a meaningful difference to the symptoms of people with the disease.

“While other anti-amyloid drugs have come this far in the development process only for later trials to show no benefit to symptoms, it’s encouraging for the effect of BAN2401 to be seen in a large study’

“Before we can tell whether BAN2401 will be able to deliver on the promise of these new findings and offer people with Alzheimer’s a much-needed new treatment option, we need to see further testing in larger, final-stage clinical trials that follow people over longer periods of time.

“As with any experimental drug, the researchers are working to evaluate its safety as well as how effective it is, and future studies will need to fully understand the risk of potentially dangerous side effects, which appeared to be associated with higher doses of this drug.

“While there is research still to do and we are yet to see the full results from this trial, we are optimistic about these new findings and, along with the countless families who have felt the effects of Alzheimer’s, await to hear what the next steps will be following this promising announcement.”