Eli Lilly's drug donanemab seen as a turning point in dementia fight

Drug slows Alzheimer's by 60% for mildly impaired patients in trial

Eli Lilly’s experimental drug donanemab slowed the progression of Alzheimer’s by 60 per cent for patients in the earliest stages of the brain-wasting disease, according to trial data presented at a medical meeting on Monday.

For those patients, the drug slowed cognitive decline by nearly twice the rate Lilly reported in May for the trial's overall treatment group. The full analysis showed results were less robust for older, later-stage patients as well as those with higher levels of a protein called tau that has been linked to Alzheimer's disease progression.

The findings underscore that “earlier detection and diagnosis can really change the trajectory of this disease,” said Anne White, president of neuroscience at Lilly.

The study showed that brain swelling, a known side effect of drugs like donanemab, occurred in more than 40 per cent  of patients with a genetic predisposition to develop Alzheimer’s. The company had previously reported that 24 per cent of the overall donanemab treatment group had brain swelling. Brain bleeding occurred in 31 per cent  of the donanemab group and about 14 per cent of the placebo group. 

The deaths of three trial patients were linked to the treatment, researchers reported.