Cognitive decline slowed in Alzheimer’s drug trial Pharmaceutical outfit Eli Lilly and Company has announced promising results for its TRAILBLAZER-ALZ 2 phase 3 study, which showed that its investigational drug significantly slowed cognitive and functional decline in people with early symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease.
T
AD neuropathology, and participants completed
until 18 months on the integrated Alzheimer’s
their course of treatment with donanemab once
Disease Rating Scale (iADRS), which measures
they reached a pre-specified level of amyloid
cognition and activities of daily living such as
plaque clearance.
managing finances, driving, engaging in hobbies
RAILBLAZER-ALZ 2 — a randomised,
Participants were stratified by their level of
and conversing about current events. Clinical
double-blind, placebo-controlled study —
the brain protein tau, a predictive biomarker for
decline was slowed by 35% compared to placebo,
evaluated the safety and efficacy of donanemab, an
Alzheimer’s disease progression. The primary
the company said.
investigational amyloid plaque-targeting therapy.
analysis population (1182) for which the study was
“Over the last 20 years, Lilly scientists have
The study enrolled people with early symptomatic
powered comprised people with an intermediate
blazed new trails in the fight against Alzheimer's
Alzheimer’s disease (AD), which includes mild
level of tau and clinical symptoms of Alzheimer’s
disease by elucidating basic mechanisms of AD
cognitive impairment (MCI) and the mild dementia
disease. In this population, donanemab met
pathology and discovering imaging and blood
stage of disease, with the confirmed presence of
the primary endpoint of change from baseline
biomarker tools to track the pathology,” said Dr
6 | LAB+LIFE SCIENTIST - Jun/Jul 2023
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