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 Pursuit of an Alzheimer's remedy, which would inevitably reap
drugmakers billions of dollars, has been marked by more than 100
failures, although researchers still hope to tame a condition that
affects nearly 6 million Americans, more than 40 million people
worldwide, and which is growing more prevalent.
The study of Roche's gantenerumab and Eli Lilly's solanezumab
spearheaded by Washington University in St. Louis focused on rare
autosomal dominant Alzheimer's disease, which is caused by gene
mutations that follow generations of families.
Those afflicted often develop Alzheimer's disease before the age of
60 and have a 50% chance of passing the mutation on.
By targeting this group, scientists had hoped the medicines would
arrest their cognitive decline. Years after the trial began,
however, they concluded the drugs were not working.
"We are very grateful to all those involved in this study and hope
the data can further contribute to the science and collective
understanding of this complex disease," Roche's Chief Medical
Officer Levi Garraway, said in a statement.
Like many other Alzheimer's drug prospects, gantenerumab and
solanezumab are designed to neutralize beta-amyloid plaques seen as
a driver behind brain cell death.
Garraway said a pair of separate Roche studies of gantenerumab
against a form of Alzheimer's disease not directly caused by gene
mutations would continue. It is due to produce results in 2022.
Roche is also testing gantenerumab in humans as part of its work
with a 'brain shuttle' technology it hopes boosts penetration into
the brain, where the drug is needed.
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"At this time, Lilly does not plan to pursue a submission for
solanezumab in people with dominantly inherited Alzheimer's
disease," the company said in a statement.
Lilly said the study's outcome will not impede its separate
solanezumab study in asymptomatic Alzheimer's disease.
DISAPPOINTMENTS
These failures mark just the latest disappointments with
gantenerumab and solanezumab.
For Roche, dosing of people thought to be in the early, or prodromal,
stages of the disease was halted in 2014. For Eli Lilly, solanezumab
has missed the mark in several studies, including a trial against
mild Alzheimer's disease that the Indiana-based company announced
had failed in 2016.
Washington University professor Ronald Bateman, who led the latest
trial, said its emerging insights include that brain changes as
Alzheimer’s progresses are much the same in people with inherited,
early-onset and late-onset disease.
"Ongoing and continued research and trials will bring us closer to
our goal to stop Alzheimer's," Bateman said on the university's
website. "We will continue until we are successful."
(Reporting by John Miller; Editing by Thomas Seythal, Kim Coghill
and Alexander Smith)
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