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When Biogen and its partner Eisai announced in March that they’d halted two simultaneous Phase 3 clinical trials on an Alzheimer’s drug based on disappointing preliminary data, the development was seen as the latest in a string of high-profile failures of once-promising experimental drugs for the disease. For some observers, the failures cast doubt on the longstanding idea that the culprit in Alzheimer’s is amyloid plaques in the brain, given that Biogen’s drug, aducanumab, and other candidates had targeted the plaques.
Then, in October, Biogen and Eisai unexpectedly reversed themselves, announcing that after analyzing more data from the stopped trials, they’d seek approval for aducanumab after all. Yesterday (December 5), in San Diego, Biogen presented the data the company says led to that decision.
Trial participants were people in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. In one of the two trials, those who received the highest ...
