One more Alzheimer's drug fails in early-onset disease study

PanARMENIAN.Net - Roche’s experimental drug gantenerumab failed to slow cognitive decline in people with a rare inherited form of Alzheimer’s disease, the latest setback for companies hunting for a cure for the devastating brain-wasting disease, Reuters reports.

The study focused on autosomal dominant Alzheimer’s disease, caused by gene mutations in which those afflicted typically develop Alzheimer’s disease before the age of 60 and have a 50-percent chance of passing the mutation on to their children.

Roche said the failure in the study being conducted by scientists at Washington University in St. Louis will not impact two additional late-stage studies of gantenerumab in people with common form of Alzheimer’s disease that is not directly caused by gene mutations.

Like many other Alzheimer’s prospects, gantenerumab is designed to bind to and remove beta-amyloid plaques that are seen as a driver behind brain cell death.

Pursuit of a successful treatment for Alzheimer’s has been marked by more than 100 failures, though companies including Roche continue to push ahead with potential medicines in hopes of eventually taming a condition that affects nearly 6 million Americans and is growing more prevalent as the population ages.