A major trial of a drug to treat mild dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease has ended in failure. Patients on the trial drug solanezumab did not show any slowing in cognitive decline compared to those treated with a placebo, or dummy drug. The results of the trial were much anticipated after promising data was released last year.
The phase 3 trial, called EXPEDITION3, involved more than 2,000 patients with Alzheimer’s disease. The drug targeted the build up of amyloid protein, which forms sticky plaques in the brain of patients with Alzheimer’s.
It is thought the formation of these plaques between nerve cells, known as neurons, leads to damage and eventually brain cell death. Dementia now leading cause of death
There are several amyloid-clearance drugs going through trials, but solanezumab was at the most advanced stage of development.
These results were the last major hurdle before Eli Lilly could seek to get the drug licenced, which will not now happen.