Last Updated on November 30, 2022

The pharmaceutical company, Eisai, has presented data from its clinical trial of the Alzheimer’s drug, Lecanemab, at the CTAD conference.

The Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s Disease (CTAD) conference gathers key leaders in research from industry and academia with the objective of quickening the development of effective treatments to fight Alzheimer's Disease.

The results, presented at the CTAD conference and published in the New England Journal of Medicine, indicate that decline in people's memory, thinking and function was slowed by around a quarter over the course of the 18 months of treatment using Lecanemab.

The large-scale trial, known as Clarity AD, included 1,795 people with early-stage Alzheimer’s and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) due to Alzheimer’s, who received a bi-weekly infusion of either Lecanemab or a dummy drug (placebo).

This follows the announcement that Lecanemab is the first in a generation of treatments to successfully meet its primary endpoints in a phase 3 clinical trial. Lecanemab, previously known as BAN2410, is a drug designed to target and clear amyloid, one of the hallmark proteins that builds up in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s at an early stage of the disease.

In response to Lecanemab data being presented at the CTAD conference, Alzheimer’s Research UK has expressed its excitement with the findings, but is calling on the Government to work with regulators, industry, clinicians and decision-makers to put a clear plan in place to ensure people in the UK are among the first in the world to access new treatments once they are licensed.

Visit the Alzheimer's Research UK website for more insights into dementia research trials and latest updates on research news.

In other news, the House of Lords Adult Social Care Committee is calling for clarity on the Government’s Autumn Statement and said it lacks strategy and vision for adult social care.