Danish pharmaceutical firm Lundbeck has announced that its Lu AE58054 drug for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease has met its primary endpoint in a Phase 2 clinical trial.
The placebo-controlled clinical study was conducted on 278 patients and Lu AE58054 was administered as an add-on to Eisai / Pfizer’s dementia drug, donepezil, for a period of 24 weeks.
Patients who received the drug plus 10mg of donepezil a day showed a significant improvement in cognition, compared to those taking the placebo plus donepezil, Lundbeck said.
Secondary endpoints, including measures of global status and activities of daily living, also showed positive trends with the addition of Lu AE58054 compared to patients who only received donepezil.
Lundbeck head of research and development Anders Gersel Pedersen said: "These results are very encouraging and we are now evaluating how to best proceed with the development of Lu AE58054.
"We believe that there is a strong need for better treatments for patients with Alzheimer’s disease, and Lundbeck sees Lu AE58054 as a potential new treatment option for this devastating disease."
The study was conducted in selected European countries, as well as in Canada and Australia.
Image: Patients who took Lundbeck’s Lu AE58054 in a Phase 2 trial showed improved cognition. Image courtesy of: FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
