Potential Alzheimer’s disease treatment fails trial

Research presented at Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) today shows that a potential new drug to treat Alzheimer’s disease, Lanabecestat, has failed a phase 2/3 trial.

Pharmaceutical giants Eli Lilly and AstraZeneca have announced that they are ending two phase 3 trials into the drug.

Dr Doug Brown, Chief Policy and Research Officer at Alzheimer’s Society:

'We’re disappointed to see Lanabecestat fail. But it isn’t cause to lose hope and we can still learn valuable lessons from it.

'Research suggests that drugs like Lanabecestat might be able to tackle dementia if taken when toxic proteins have built up in the brain and before symptoms emerge, but obviously that’s tricky to pinpoint. Big players like AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly ending their Lanabecestat studies may make it all seem doom and gloom, but there are promising drugs still in clinical trials.

'With enough investment, research will beat dementia, which is why Alzheimer’s Society is a founding funder of the UK Dementia Research Institute - a unique collaboration bringing together the brains of six universities across the nations, with hundreds of world-leading researchers working tirelessly to beat dementia.'