NEW YORK, Jan. 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Drugmaker Eli Lilly & Co announced today that the FDA has issued a complete response letter, meaning it has not granted accelerated approval for amyloid-clearing antibody donanemab. The FDA decision was due to the limited number of patients who stayed on the drug for at least 12 months, which is the timeframe the agency wants to see to assess the drug’s safety. The company’s plans are to file phase 3 clinical trial data later this year for a traditional, or full, FDA approval.
“This drug did what it was intended to do – remove amyloid plaques in the brain – and because of the trial’s innovative design, treatment was halted for patients once the biomarker PET scans confirmed the plaques were gone. In some cases, this occurred in less than 12 months, which is why fewer patients stayed on the drug for a full year,” said Howard Fillit, M.D., Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer of the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF). “The ADDF applauds the design of the TRAILBLAZER-ALZ trial, which is a mark of great progress in the Alzheimer’s field, promising more treatments to come. We look forward to reviewing the phase 3 data later this year.”
The donanemab trial used a ‘goldilocks strategy’ to enroll patients who were in the early stages of Alzheimer’s and who were most likely to benefit from treatment due to the levels of amyloid and tau in their brains. A unique aspect of this trial was the use of both Amyvid® and Tauvid™ PET scans to enroll patients with proven amyloid and tau build-up, allowing investigators to confirm clearance or reduction of these plaques and tangles in later scans.
Today’s Alzheimer’s drug pipeline is incredibly robust and productive, with more and more trials employing advanced strategies like donanemab’s to speed and improve the drug development process. In addition to donanemab and other anti-amyloid drugs already approved and still in development, the pipeline also includes more clinical trials exploring non-amyloid targets in the aging brain than ever before. Combination treatments with a precision medicine approach are needed to not just slow but stop Alzheimer’s in its tracks.
This news follows the announcement that lecanemab, another anti-amyloid therapy, received accelerated approval from the FDA earlier this month.
“Amyloid-clearing drugs, such as these, are one part of the solution, but there remains a pressing need to develop a new generation of drugs targeting all aspects of the biology of aging that can be combined to address the full array of underlying pathologies that contribute to the disease,” said Dr. Fillit.
ABOUT THE ALZHEIMER’S DRUG DISCOVERY FOUNDATION
Founded in 1998 by Leonard A. and Ronald S. Lauder, the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation is dedicated to rapidly accelerating the discovery of drugs to prevent, treat and cure Alzheimer’s disease. The ADDF is the only public charity solely focused on funding the development of drugs for Alzheimer’s, employing a venture philanthropy model to support research in academia and the biotech industry. The ADDF’s leadership and contributions to the field have played a pivotal role in bringing the first Alzheimer’s PET scan (Amyvid™) and blood test (PrecivityAD™) to market, as well as fueling the current robust and diverse drug pipeline. Through the generosity of its donors, the ADDF has awarded nearly $250 million to fund over 720 Alzheimer’s drug discovery programs, biomarker programs and clinical trials in 19 countries. To learn more, please visit: http://www.alzdiscovery.org/.
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SOURCE Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation
