Eli Lilly & Co (NYSE:LLY) said clinical trial of its solanezumab have slowed Alzheimer's effects on patients suffering from a moderately advanced form of the disease, potentially offering the first viable solution for combating this illness.
Patients in the early stages of Alzheimer treated with solanezumab preserved many of their cognitive abilities compared to groups taking a placebo, said Eli Lilly, which presented the results to the Alzheimer's Association International Conference (AAIC ) this week in Washington.
The results of the first two clinical trials with this molecule conducted with approximately 2,000 patients for 18 months and released in 2012 were not convincing as the loss of cognitive abilities in Alzheimer sufferers treated with solanezumab did not show any signs of slowing.
But an analysis of the results of clinical trials for patients who were at an earlier stage of the disease showed that solanezumab did achieve a notable 34% drop of the rate of mental deterioration of these patients, and 18% in their ability to perform their daily tasks, the researchers said.
Following this discovery, Eli Lilly decided to continue clinical trials for two years using only patients with moderate Alzheimer's, switching those taking placebo to solanezumab.
Lilly had already indicated that after six months, patients treated with solanezumab continued to show positive effects compared to those who had been treated with it at a later stage.
Eli Lilly said Wednesday that the important difference between these two groups subsisted even a year after the extension of the clinical trial, and a little less after two years.
But differences in cognitive function between two groups after two years are "statistically significant," said Eli Lilly in a statement. Nevertheless, the company stressed that should solanezumab continue to show such results in the coming years with the approximately 2100 patients involved in the studies, it could become the first drug with proven effectiveness to slow the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, which affects five million Americans, according to Lilly officials.