Pharmaceutical Business review

Neurochem launches European trial of Alzheimer’s drug

The trial, to be conducted in 73 centers around Europe, will investigate the safety and efficacy of Alzhemed in treating Alzheimer’s disease, with some 930 mild-to- moderate Alzheimer’s patients taking part in the trial.

The patients in the study will receive either placebo or one of two different dose levels of Alzhemed for a period of 18 months, in addition to their regular treatment.

In July, Neurochem completed the enrolment of 1052 mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s patients for its North American phase III clinical trial on Alzhemed. To date, approximately 470 and 210 patients have completed six and nine months of the North American trial, respectively. Both the European and North American trials are designed to demonstrate the disease-modifying potential of Alzhemed.

“This phase III clinical trial for Alzhemed is, in my view, the one raising the most hope in Europe for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease,” said Dr Bruno Vellas, chief of the Alzheimer’s disease clinical and research center at the University Hospital Center in Toulouse, France, and one of the Principal Investigators in the European study. “Alzhemed’s good tolerability profile and unique mechanism of action aimed at stopping the progression of the disease rather than targeting the symptoms are particularly interesting.”