Posted Sep 28, 2022, 6:26 PM
The stock market does not applaud, it ovations. Markets hailed what is seen as a historic breakthrough against Alzheimer’s disease. The drug from the Japanese laboratory Eisai and the American biotech Biogen has shown a positive efficacy result, with an ability to slow down the cognitive decline of patients by 27%. It is modest, but unexpected as science has been skating for decades in the face of this neurodegenerative disease.
At Nasdaq, Biogen’s share price jumped almost 40% mid-session Wednesday, adding ten billion dollars to its market capitalization (39 billion). As for the smaller Eisai, its American certificate of deposit (ADR) soared 60%, boosting its stock market value on the Nasdaq from $14 billion to $19 billion.
Test on 1,795 patients
Today, there is no treatment to prevent, delay or stop the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, discovered a century ago. It affects 55 million people worldwide, including 10 million in Europe, and manifests itself in memory and other brain function disorders. The third leading cause of death for people over 65 after cancer and cardiovascular disease, it is the most common form of dementia in the elderly. But while it is often diagnosed over age 65 when symptoms appear, neurodegeneration begins decades earlier.
“Clarity AD”, the phase 3 clinical trial of Lecanemab, the drug candidate of the two partners, was conducted for 18 months on 1,795 patients in the early stage of Alzheimer’s. This monoclonal antibody achieved its main objective by reducing cognitive decline by 27% compared to the placebo group. The first differences with the placebo group were measured after six months of treatment.
Hope for Roche and Eli Lilly
It is a sign of hope for other laboratories because the drug celebrated this Wednesday fights Beta amyloid plaques, a protein that is deposited in diseased neurons. Anti-amyloid is a classic mechanism for combating Alzheimer’s disease, which already exists in other drugs. But these were not effective. Many therefore began to doubt the relevance of fighting against these amyloid deposits, judging that they must be a consequence of the disease but not its cause.
That this mechanism of action is finally showing efficacy, even if limited, is therefore encouraging for all the laboratories developing drug candidates based on the same anti-amyloid principle, such as Roche and Eli Lilly.
Early access to Lecanemab for American and Japanese patients has already been requested this year. From now on, “Eisai will discuss these results with the regulatory authorities in the United States, Japan and Europe to request by the end of March 2023 a marketing authorization” classic, indicated in a press release Eisai and Biogen. Before that, the results of Clarity AD will be analyzed on November 29 at the Congress of Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s.
