Roche’s Alzheimer drug fails in long-awaited trial

Most of the 55 million people suffering from dementia worldwide are likely to be affected by Alzheimer's disease, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Keystone / Sven Hoppe

The Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche says its Alzheimer's drug candidate could not clearly be shown to slow dementia progression in two drug trials.

Roche said in a statementExternal link on Monday that the studies known as Graduate 1 and 2 did not reach the main goal of showing that the drug gantenerumab can preserve abilities such as memory, solving problems, orientation and personal care in patients suffering from early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.

“The studies did not meet their primary endpoint of slowing clinical decline. Gantenerumab was well tolerated, including the subcutaneous administration,” it said.

The Swiss company 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 receive either the injectable antibody drug gantenerumab or a placebo.

Gantenerumab was 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.

Most of the 55 million people suffering from dementia worldwide are likely to be affected by Alzheimer’s, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). In 2030, dementia is expected to affect 78 million.