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Alzheimer's disease is one of the most devastating diseases from the point of view of the brain. Pathology, in fact, literally steals our memories, robbing us of any connection to our past. But a new experimental drug may, perhaps, change the lives of many patients. Produced by Biogen, the famous American biotechnology company, it promises to slow down the symptomatic course by drastically reducing memory loss. Here are all the details.
BAN2401
His name is BAN2401 and was produced in collaboration with the Japanese company Eism. The positive results obtained, in terms of the slowdown of memory, also caused the society another side effect : an increase in the prices of the shares which are sketches at the top. Needless to say, there are many people interested in Biogen's work that seems to be where others – like Pfizer – have failed.
How the drug works
Despite research against Alzheimer's Disease Without much success, Biogen seems to have succeeded in creating a drug based on a targeted antibody that attacks the beta-amyloid plaques. The plaques we all feel are related to the onset of this dreaded disease that is spreading more and more. In our country alone, 600,000 Alzheimer patients were registered last year
The baday
BAN2401 – which selectively binds to large and soluble Aβ protofibrils – was developed by the Stockholm BioArctic, and then licensed at Eisai, and subsequently Biogen acquired a stake through a partnership with Eisai. The Phase 2b study tested five dosing regimens in people with mild cognitive impairment due to mild Alzheimer's disease or Alzheimer's disease and showing signs of cerebral amyloid pathology by badysis cerebrospinal fluid or PET. Patients received a 60-minute infusion at 5 or 10 mg / kg once a month or 2.5, 5 or 10 mg / kg twice a month.
New Hope
Initially, hopes seemed to come from immunotherapy with a molecule called adacanumab. However, this does not seem to have achieved the desired effects. Which, on the contrary, did BAN2401. The latter seems to have succeeded in demonstrating how the clinical evolution of patients is considerably slowed down. The study lasted a year and a half and was conducted on 856 patients with Alzheimer's disease. The results, defined by Biogen himself, have been very encouraging, especially because "the elimination of plaques is a slowing down of cognitive decline," says Biogen president Stelios Papadopoulos. Although, he recalls, the drug is not a miracle because it does not stop the disease, however "we have managed to slow cognitive decline," Papadopoulos told CNBC . On the other hand, Ronald Petersen, director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Research on Alzheimer's, believes that he is "cautiously optimistic."
Scientific Sources
[1] Summary Results: 18 months of work of BAN2401 – Alzforum [2] J Neuroinflammation. 2018 March 28; 15 (1): 98. doi: 10.1186 / s12974-018-1134-4. The selective mAb158 Aβ protofibril antibody prevents accumulation of Aβ in astrocytes and rescues neurons from Aβ-induced cell death. Söllvander S1, Nikitidou E1, Gallasch L1, Zyśk M1, Söderberg L2, Sehlin D1, Lannfelt L1, Erlandsson A3
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