Roche (SIX:RO, ROG; OTCQX:RHHBY) subsidiary Genentech announced that a study of the amyloid beta-protein inhibitor crenezumab failed to show statistically significant clinical benefit in Alzheimer’s patients.
The failure is typical. Historically, 99% of Alzheimer’s drug candidate studies fail to show improvement over placebo, according to Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy.
In the research, Genentech partnered with the Banner Alzheimer’s Institute, the University of Antioquia in Colombia and the National Institute on Aging.
The research did find slight differences favoring crenezumab across several endpoints, but they failed to reach statistical significance.
“We’re disappointed that the treatment did not demonstrate a statistically significant clinical benefit,” said Dr. Eric M. Reiman, Banner Alzheimer’s Institute executive director, in a news release. “At the same time, we’re proud of the impact that this precedent-setting trial has had in shaping a new era in Alzheimer’s prevention research, and we’re extremely grateful to our research participants and their families. This trial, the data, samples and findings that we’ll share with the research community, and the related work that we and others are doing promise to further accelerate the evaluation and approval of future prevention therapies.”
The study enrolled 252 participants.
Genentech is also testing another antibody, gantenerumab, for various forms of Alzheimer’s disease.
Crenezumab also failed to show improvements in the pivotal CREAD 1 and 2 trials in 2019.
Genentech is developing crenezumab in collaboration with Switzerland-based AC Immune SA.