President Tara Spires-Jones discusses Alzheimer’s drug Donanemab on BBC 4

4th May 2023

"This is an excellent example of how fundamental neuroscience research into the brain changes that cause Alzheimer’s can be translated into effective treatments"

Yesterday, Eli Lilly announced that its drug, Donanemab, is capable of slowing Alzheimer's disease progression by a third, in new phase 3 clinical research results.

"Over the last 20 years, Lilly scientists have blazed new trails in the fight against Alzheimer's disease by elucidating basic mechanisms of AD pathology and discovering imaging and blood biomarker tools to track the pathology," said Daniel Skovronsky, M.D., Ph.D., Lilly's chief scientific and medical officer, and president of Lilly Research Laboratories. "We are extremely pleased that donanemab yielded positive clinical results with compelling statistical significance for people with Alzheimer's disease in this trial. This is the first Phase 3 trial of any investigational medicine for Alzheimer's disease to deliver 35% slowing of clinical and functional decline."

Prof Tara Spires-Jones, deputy director of the Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences at the University of Edinburgh, UK Dementia Research Institute Group leader, and president of the British Neuroscience Association said:

This press release from Eli Lilly and Company sounds very promising. While the full data have not been shared with the scientific community, meaning we can’t yet judge how robust they are, the company reports that their drug donanemab slowed decline in people with early Alzheimer’s disease.  The effects are very similar to two other recently approved drugs that act on the same target, showing remarkable consistency in the ability to slow cognitive decline in early Alzheimer’s disease by around 30-35% with drugs that lower amyloid levels.  It is important to note that there were rare serious side effects of the treatment with brain swelling and small strokes that seem to have contributed to the death of 3 of the participants in the trial.  Regulators will have to decide whether the benefits of treatment outweigh these risks.  This positive result and the two recent similar successful trials are very welcome good news after decades of clinical trial failures. This is an excellent example of how fundamental neuroscience research into the brain changes that cause Alzheimer’s can be translated into effective treatments.

You can read more about this on the BBC's website.

Professor Spires-Jones discussed the Donanemab results with Professor John Hardy (UCL), on the BBC Radio 4's Today Programme.

Catch the interview with Tara Spires-Jones and John Hardy at 7:34am on Thursday 4th May on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.