Late Tuesday, drugmaker Biogen Inc. announced that patients in a global confirmatory study of its new drug, which goes by the generic name of lecanemab, showed statistically significant improvement after 18 months in slowing the cognitive effects of Alzheimer's disease compared to a placebo.
The Cambridge biopharma company said the drug, an antibody that targets the buildup of amyloid in the brain of patients with the disease, achieved all primary and secondary goals of a worldwide study involving 1,795 patients "with highly statistically significant results."
The company said the drug helped patients who received it to slow clinical decline — as measured by an established cognitive test — by 27%. The full results of the study won't be published in a peer-reviewed journal, however, until November.
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