Donanemab slows clinical decline of Alzheimer's disease

In what has been rare positive news in the search for an effective treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, mid-stage data were released today showing that donanemab, an investigational antibody that targets a modified form of beta amyloid called N3pG, showed significant slowing of decline in a composite measure of cognition and daily function in patients with early symptomatic Alzheimer's disease compared to placebo in the Phase II TRAILBLAZER-ALZ study.

The drug candidate is being developed by US pharma major Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY), whose shares shot up 13% to $188.05 in pre-market trading.

Donanemab met the primary endpoint of change from baseline to 76 weeks in the Integrated Alzheimer's Disease Rating Scale (iADRS), slowing decline by 32% relative to placebo, which was statistically significant. Donanemab also showed consistent improvements in all prespecified secondary endpoints measuring cognition and function compared to placebo, but did not reach nominal statistical significance on every secondary endpoint.