Eisai Co. and partner Biogen Inc. said their Alzheimer’s drug significantly slowed the disease, making it the first medicine to clearly blunt progression of the most common type of dementia in a definitive, large-scale trial.
Lecanemab reduced the pace of cognitive decline in people with early disease by 27% over 18 months when compared with a placebo, meeting the main goal of the trial, the companies said in a statement. The benefit came with side effects, including brain swelling and bleeding, though severe cases were rare.
The clear-cut positive result marks a major milestone for researchers who have been trying in vain for decades to stop the inexorable decline tied to the disease, but how much of a difference it will make for patients and families is less obvious. The medicine appears to unambiguously slow the disease, though it doesn’t restore mental capacity or completely stop its loss.
