The failure of clinical trials for a promising drug to slow dementia caused by Alzheimer’s is being seen as a disappointing setback, but not the end of hopes to fight the disease.
On Wednesday, US drugmaker Eli Lilly announced that Phase 3 clinical trials of its drug solanezumab didn’t progress as planned.
“Patients treated with solanezumab did not experience a statistically significant slowing in cognitive decline compared to patients treated with placebo,” it said in a statement.
Almost 47 million people live with dementia worldwide and that number is expected to double every 20 years to reach 131 million people in 2050, according to Alzheimer’s Disease International.
The trial
More than 2,100 patients diagnosed with mild dementia due to Alzheimer’s participated in the multi-national trial.
In a statement, Lilly’s chairman, president and CEO John C. Lechleiter said the company was “disappointed for the millions of people waiting for a potential disease-modifying treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.”
He added that the results would be evaluated to determine the impact on its other potential Alzheimer’s drugs in the pipeline.
The company’s share price dropped more than 10% on the New York Stock Exchange after the announcement. More details are expected to be announced on Thursday.
Attacking amyloid plaque
Like other anti-amyloid drugs, solanezumab was designed to reduce amyloid plaque on the brain, which builds up over decades and is thought to contribute to the memory loss associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
For some, the failure of the drug test wasn’t surprising.
“There is still no convincing evidence that shows a clear relationship between amyloid deposition and deficits in cognition in humans,” said Professor Peter Roberts from the University of Bristol.
“All we really know is that evidence of amyloid deposition begins up to maybe 20 years before the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. This might be a good indicator, but does not prove causality.”
The US Alzheimer’s Association said it hoped ongoing tests for solanezumab and other anti-amyloid agents would continue.
“These other programs have different ways of acting on the amyloid pathway and some are also addressing the disease at a much earlier stage when these drugs may still prove to be effective,” it said.