By
Godfrey Benjamin
August 8th, 2023
The next step will be a trial with 500 patients included. Eli Lilly and Co is planning to replicate the results and continue to research the drug’s effectiveness.
US pharma giant Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) has shared the results of a small trial of its experimental Alzheimer’s drug. According to the press release, the drug showed promise in the Phase 2 TRAILBLAZER-ALZ study. It significantly slowed the decline in a composite measure of cognition and daily function in patients with early symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease compared to placebo. Following the news, Eli Lilly and Co stock soared on Monday.
Eli Lilly and Co’s Alzheimer’s Drug
Eli Lilly and Co started working on fighting Alzheimer’s disease long ago. Its experimental drug called donanemab is an antibody-based treatment. It targets a so-called N3pG beta amyloid and quickly clears amyloid plaques in the brain, which otherwise disrupt cell function.
Previously, Eli Lill and Co conducted Phase 1 study of the drug. After it was completed, the company started preparing for Phase 2 trial, or TRAILBLAZER-ALZ study. Its goal was to assess the safety, tolerability and efficacy of the drug in patients with early symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. The trial enrolled 272 patients. The company’s choice was based on cognitive assessments in conjunction with amyloid plaque imaging and tau imaging.
According to Eli Lilly and Co, donanemab has proved to be effective in Alzheimer’s treatment. In particular, the drug slowed the decline of patients’ ability to think by 32% in comparison with placebo.
Daniel Skovronsky, Chief Scientific Officer and President of Lilly Research Laboratories, commented:
“This unique mechanism and antibody for clearing plaques, discovered at Lilly, has the potential to provide high levels of durable amyloid plaque clearance after limited duration dosing. In conjunction with our expertise in amyloid and tau imaging, this allowed us to conduct a trial to test if reducing amyloid plaques in Alzheimer’s patients to levels seen in scans of healthy individuals could result in clinically meaningful slowing of cognitive decline.”
He further added:
“The positive results we have obtained today give us confidence in donanemab and support its rapid and deep plaque clearance for the potential treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.”
Next step will be a trial with 500 patients included. The company is planning to replicate the results and continue to research the drug’s effectiveness.
Eli Lilly and Co Stock Soared 11.74%
Following the promising results the company shared, its stock rocketed. It closed 11.74% up on Monday, at $ $185.94 per share. However, after hours it slightly declined by 1.04% to $184.00. Year-to-date, Eli Lilly and Co stock is 10.13% up. Its market cap totals $159.18 billion.
As for the company’s rating, it has eight “buy” ratings as well as six “hold” ratings from analysts.