Roche says Alzheimer's drug fails to meet goal in trial (updated)

Morphosys AG

14/11/2022 06:16

(Add details on study)
    By Ludwig Burger
       ZURICH, Nov 14 (Reuters) - 
    Roche said  ROG.S  its Alzheimer's drug candidate could not
clearly be shown to slow dementia progression in two drug
trials, failing to draw level with a recent development success
by rivals Biogen  BIIB.O  and Eisai  4523.T .
  
        The Swiss drugmaker said in a statement on Monday that
twin studies known as Graduate 1 and 2 did not reach the primary
goal of showing that the drug gantenerumab can preserve
abilities such as remembering, solving problems, orientation and
personal care in patients suffering from early stages of
Alzheimer's disease.
  
        Roche conducted two equally designed studies with about
1,000 participants each, who were examined and queried by
physicians over more than two years. Within each study,
volunteers were randomly assigned to either receive the
injectable antibody drug gantenerumab, or a placebo. 
  
        Gantenerumab is designed to bind to aggregated forms of
beta-amyloid and remove brain amyloid plaques, which are
believed to play a crucial role in the slowly progressing
dementia disease.
  
 (Additional reporting by John Revill in Zurich; Editing by
Christopher Cushing)
 ((ludwig.burger@thomsonreuters.com; +49 30 220133634;))