Lilly’s (NYSE:LLY) shares were up more than 5.36% to $425.88 after the company announced upbeat results from the phase 3 TRAILBLAZER-ALZ 2 study, which revealed that the experimental Alzheimer’s drug donanemab significantly slowed cognitive decline in patients with early symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease at 18 months.
Almost half of patients, 47%, who received donanemab had no disease progression one year after treatment began, compared with 29% who did not receive the investigational antibody. Donanemab recipients had a clinical decline of 35% compared to placebo recipients based on the primary outcome measure. The drug group had 40% less decline in the ability to perform activities of daily living.
A potential blockbusterDonanemab seems likely to win FDA approval given the positive data. In September 2022, UBS projected that donanemab would generate peak risk-adjusted sales of $4.8 billion. But earlier this year, FDA sent Lilly a complete response …