Experimental drug slows progression of early Alzheimer's disease by 60%, study finds

Eli Lilly's experimental drug donanemab slowed the progression of Alzheimer's by 60% for patients in the earliest stages of the brain-wasting disease, according to trial data presented at a medical meeting on Monday.

For those patients, the drug slowed cognitive decline by nearly twice the rate Lilly reported in May for the trial's overall treatment group. The full analysis showed results were less robust for older, later-stage patients as well as those with higher levels of a protein called tau that has been linked to Alzheimer's disease progression.

The findings underscore that "earlier detection and diagnosis can really change the trajectory of this disease," said Anne White, president of neuroscience at Lilly.

The study showed that brain swelling, a known side effect of drugs like donanemab, occurred in more than 40% of patients with a genetic predisposition to develop Alzheimer's.

The company had previously reported that 24% of the overall donanemab treatment group had brain swelling. Brain bleeding occurred in 31% of the donanemab group and about 14% of the placebo group.

The deaths of three trial patients were linked to the treatment, researchers reported.

Doctors are likely to use "very stringent MRI safety screening while we treat these patients," she said.

Donanemab, like Eisai and Biogen's recently approved Leqembi, is an intravenous antibody designed to remove deposits of a protein called beta amyloid from the brains of Alzheimer's patients.

(Reuters)