Eisai: New Alzheimer's Drug Shows Positive Results In Final - Phase Trials
Japanese drug maker Eisai says its drug candidate aimed at slowing the progression of Alzheimer's disease has shown positive results in final-phase global clinical trials.
It adds that it aims to file for approval of the drug in the United States, Japan and Europe by the end of March.
Eisai has been developing the drug, lecanemab, jointly with US drug maker Biogen.
The firm began clinical testing in March 2019 in Japan, the US, Europe and elsewhere on about 1,800 people in total. Test subjects were patients with mild cognitive impairment, which is a pre-stage of Alzheimer's disease, and patients at early stages of the disease.
They were given either lecanemab or a placebo once every two weeks. Doctors and other staff assessed how the participants' cognitive and other functions changed.
Eisai said in the 18 months since the start of the trial, cognitive and functional decline was reduced by 27 percent in the group administered with the drug, compared with the group given the placebo.
The drug is an antibody for the disease. It eliminates amyloid beta, an abnormal protein believed to accumulate in the brains of Alzheimer's disease patients, by binding to the protein. This prevents nerve cells from breaking down and works to slow the progression of the disease.
The company plans to report detailed test results at an academic conference on dementia scheduled for November in the US.