Pharmacists have presented a drug that successfully resists Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's Board
The shares of a large American company Biogen Idec have already soared by 50% since December, if successful, sales of the drug worldwide can be estimated at billions of dollars a year.
In December, the company's representatives announced that their experimental drug aducanumab had significantly stopped cognitive impairment in patients following the results of the very first phase of clinical trials. However, then the doctors limited themselves to a general statement, without specifying how effective the drug turned out to be.
Since then, market analysts and investors have been looking forward to the results of the tests, and some of them specially flew to France last Friday for their announcement, which took place in Nice at an international conference dedicated to the treatment of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.
According to doctors, the effect of adukanumab not only met the expectations of specialists, but in some cases surpassed them in terms of the ability to stop the development of the disease. However, concerns are still caused by side effects that may occur when taking the maximum dose. "Incredible efficiency, sufficient security," said an analyst at Credit Suisse, and on the same day the company's shares immediately rose by 10%.
Specialists in the treatment of dementia were impressed, but they warn against hasty conclusions, because so far we are talking about the first phase of trials, where more questions are paid to the safety of the drug. At the same time, everyone understands that trials of other similar drugs have so far been unsuccessful.
"The results are definitely encouraging," says Samuel Gandhi of the Center for Cognitive Health in New York, adding that the effect of the maximum dose of the drug is "very impressive."
Aducanumab (BIIB037) was developed specifically to cleanse the brain of amyloid plaques, which are believed to be the cause of memory impairment and other negative manifestations of Alzheimer's disease.
No large-scale clinical trial of other drugs has yet led to results.
So, Johnson & Johnson and Pfiser have already abandoned the drug, which they jointly developed, after it did not show results. Some experts believe that such drugs can be successful only at a fairly early start of administration, when the disease is not progressing yet.
The first phase of aducanumab trials was performed on 166 patients who were randomly assigned different doses of the drug or placebo. The drug not only slowed down the deterioration of cognitive functions, but also significantly reduced the number of plaques in the brain, and the higher the dose, the more effective it worked.
"It's hard to assume that these results were accidental," says neurologist Rachel Doody, who was not involved in the study.
To assess cognitive functions, patients underwent special 30-point tests. On average, those who took a placebo scored 3.14 points less a year later, those who took the maximum dose of the drug scored only 0.58 points less, the average – 0.75.
Doctors say they would be impressed by a 20-30 percent difference, while in fact it exceeded 70%.
A side effect of taking the medication may be special amyloid abnormalities that can lead to brain swelling, especially in those who are genetically predisposed to Alzheimer's disease. According to Biogen pharmacists, edema often does not cause symptoms and can be stopped by reducing the dose. However, not everyone agrees with this. "Most doctors consider this unacceptable. The side effect is something that we definitely do not wish on patients," says Thomas Wisniewski of the New York University Medical Center.
The company intends to check the results on larger-scale tests this year.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru27.03.2015