The clinical trial of another drug for Alzheimer’s was disappointing

The crenezumabone more candidate drug for Alzheimer’s diseasedesigned to slow or prevent its symptoms, disappointed in a new clinical trial, as it did not show any cognitive benefit for patients at high risk due to genetic background. It was another failure in the long list of candidate drugs that ultimately belied the initially cultivated expectations for them.

The results of phase 2 clinical study showed that the drug, a monoclonal antibody produced by the Roche Group Genentech that neutralizes neurotoxic oligomers (a form of beta amyloid), was not actually better than the placebo given to the control group for comparison, as it failed to improve cognitive ability or memory in people with a genetic mutation that puts them at risk for premature Alzheimer’s symptoms.

The ten-year clinical trial It was for the first time people with genetic factors at high risk for the disease, but who had not yet had symptoms. It was performed in Colombia on 169 people with the “guilty” mutation, which essentially “guarantees” that the person will develop Alzheimer’s from middle age, while many die between 60-70 years. The researchers hoped that early intervention with the drug years before the first symptoms appeared, would prevent its occurrence.

«We were disappointed because crenezumab did not show significant clinical benefitSaid the lead researcher Dr. Eric Reiman of the Alzheimer’s Banner Institute in Arizonaaccording to the New York Times.

This is another disappointing result for the class of drugs that target the beta amyloid key protein, which forms sticky plaques in the brain of Alzheimer’s patients. Various anti-amyloid drugs have been tried in patients at various stages of the disease, but all have been disappointing. As early as 2019, Roche had stopped two previous clinical trials of the same drug, crenezumab, in another group of patients not with genetic risk factors, but in the early stages of the disease.