A new Alzheimer’s treatment is showing promising initial results in early clinical trials.
Published in a study in Nature Medicine, researchers from Western University, Stanford University and the University of California, San Francisco, have evaluated the effectiveness of a drug that is for now called LM11A-31, which targets a specific neurotrophin receptor.
According to the study, there were “significant drug–placebo differences” and the drug slowed the progression of cognitive decline following a trial with 242 participants, all of whom ranged from mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease.
The targeted neurotrophin receptor, dubbed p75, promotes cell survival and synaptic plasticity through multiple pathways and can act as “a potent and fundamental molecular signal switch for neuronal survival and synaptic integrity,” the researchers stated.
Participants in the study were selected between 2017 and 2020, with 211 completing the study at a 26-week visit. Participants were given a placebo, 200 mg or 400 mg dose of the drug.
In some instances, the LM11A-31 drug produced a 50% slowing of cognitive decline in comparison to the placebo.
“The exploratory findings encourage larger trials of longer treatment duration to address the hypothesis that small-molecule modulation of p75NTR might constitute a disease-modifying therapy in Alzheimer’s disease,” the researchers wrote.
