Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer’s Network Receives Donations, Funding for Therapy Trial

Leading researchers at the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer’s Network (DIAN) have announced that two pharma companies have agreed to donate three investigational drugs and at least partially fund a five-year therapy trial to test those drugs side-by-side in people who are destined by genetics to develop early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Trials directly comparing drugs by different companies have been done in cancer, but are unprecedented in the field of Alzheimer’s research.

One of the therapeutics is a small molecule designed to reduce amyloid beta production by blocking the enzyme BACE-1; two are monoclonal antibodies. One of those antibodies, solanezumab, recently was shown to benefit those diagnosed with mild Alzheimer’s in a large clinical trial. The other antibody, gantenerumab, currently is in a separate phase 2/3 trial in prodromal AD — the earliest form of disease that is being diagnosed. The DIAN trials will be done in participants at much earlier stages of disease, where researchers hope all anti-amyloid drugs will be more effective. The trials rely on biological markers to ensure that participants actually have amyloid pathology. For more information, click here to read the full release.