Alzheimer’s drug: This drug slows the cognitive deterioration of Alzheimer’s disease.

The Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai announced Wednesday that the final phase of the study it was conducting with a experimental drug to treat Alzheimer’s disease has shown positive results in the treatment of slowing the worsening of the disease..

Eisai on Wednesday published the results of the clinical trial, the third and final phase of its analysis of lecanemaba new treatment for the neurodegenerative disease that it has been investigating together with the U.S. pharmaceutical company Biogen.

The clinical trial began in March 2019 and involved 1,795 people from Japan, the United States, and Europe with mild cognitive impairment (dementia) or early-stage Alzheimer’s with abnormalities of beta-amyloid (a key peptide in its development) confirmed.

Changes in cognitive functions.

The patients were divided into two groups: members of one were given the drug once every two weeks for 18 months, while the other was given a placebo, in order to investigate changes in their cognitive functions.

After a year and a half, the lecanemab-treated group had a 27% reduction in symptom worsening compared to the placebo group, and as early as six months “treatment showed statistically significant changes” in cognitive evolution, according to the study results.

Another trial involving 111 patients in China is currently underway.

Halting its progression

Lecanemab is designed to prevent the progression of Alzheimer’s by binding an antibody to beta-amyloid (which occurs in abnormal accumulations in the brains of patients with this disease, the most common form of dementia) and removing it, to prevent the destruction of nerve cells.

Eisai will present the conclusions of its study at the Alzheimer’s Clinical Trials Congress to be held in the United States starting next November 29, and will discuss its findings with regulatory authorities to apply by March 2023 for approval of the drug in the US, Japan and Europe.