The experimental drug lecanemab shows “potential” as an Alzheimer’s disease treatment, according to new Phase 3 trial results, but the findings raise some safety concerns because of its association with certain serious adverse events.
Lecanemab has become one of the first experimental dementia drugs to appear to slow the progression of cognitive decline.
The long-awaited trial data, published Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, comes about two months after drugmakers Biogen and Eisai announced that lecanemab had been found to reduce cognitive and functional decline by 27% in their Phase 3 trial.
A Phase 2 trial did not show a significant difference between lecanemab and a placebo in Alzheimer’s disease patients in 12 months – but the Phase 3 trial data suggests that at 18 months, lecanameb was associated with more clearance of amyloid and less cognitive decline.
