The drug, donanemab, a monoclonal antibody, binds to a small part of the hard plaques in the brain made of a protein, amyloid, that are hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease. The small study needs to be replicated, noted Dr Michael Weiner, a leading Alzheimer’s researcher at the University of California, San Francisco. The Eli Lilly trial recruited patients not based on symptoms but on scans showing significant accumulations of amyloid in their brains. It occurred in close to 30% of patients, Skovronsky said, but most had no symptoms. While the trial was going on, Eli Lilly started a second Phase 2 trial, Trailblazer 2, hoping that the initial effort would produce results.

Source: bd News24 January 12, 2021 04:41 UTC