Eisai and partner Biogen said their drug significantly slowed Alzheimer's disease, making it the first medicine to 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 Alzheimer’s by 27% over 18 months when compared with a placebo, meeting the main goal of the trial, the companies said in a statement. The benefits came with side effects, including brain swelling and bleeding, though severe cases were rare.
The result marks a major milestone for researchers who have been trying in vain for decades to stop the inexorable decline tied to the disease. How much of a difference it will make for patients and families is less clear. While it appears to unambiguously slow the disease, the medicine doesn’t restore mental capacity or completely stop its loss.