This transcript has been edited for clarity.
Dear colleagues, I am Christoph Diener, a neurologist from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany. In April, I identified five interesting studies in neurology. Let me start with Alzheimer's disease.
There is a class of drugs that has an impact on the production of amyloid beta. One of these drugs is verubecestat, which is an oral, beta-site amyloid precursor protein-cleaving enzyme 1 inhibitor. [Verubecestat inhibits the production of beta amyloid and can be given orally.]
Verubecestat was tested in a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1455 patients with memory impairment and elevated brain amyloid on PET.[1] The purpose was to look at incipient Alzheimer's disease because this drug failed in patients who already had moderate to severe Alzheimer's disease.
The investigators used two doses of 12 or 40 mg daily for 104 weeks. The trial was stopped for futility when 40% of the patients reached the follow-up of 104 weeks. There was no difference in score on the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale-Sum of Boxes and there was even a worse outcome in the higher-dose group.
The transition from cognitive impairment to dementia was about 20%-25% per year, and this was, again, not different.
COMMENTARY
5 New Neurology Studies to Know
Hans-Christoph Diener, MD, PhD
DisclosuresMay 23, 2019
This transcript has been edited for clarity.
Dear colleagues, I am Christoph Diener, a neurologist from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany. In April, I identified five interesting studies in neurology. Let me start with Alzheimer's disease.
There is a class of drugs that has an impact on the production of amyloid beta. One of these drugs is verubecestat, which is an oral, beta-site amyloid precursor protein-cleaving enzyme 1 inhibitor. [Verubecestat inhibits the production of beta amyloid and can be given orally.]
Verubecestat was tested in a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1455 patients with memory impairment and elevated brain amyloid on PET.[1] The purpose was to look at incipient Alzheimer's disease because this drug failed in patients who already had moderate to severe Alzheimer's disease.
The investigators used two doses of 12 or 40 mg daily for 104 weeks. The trial was stopped for futility when 40% of the patients reached the follow-up of 104 weeks. There was no difference in score on the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale-Sum of Boxes and there was even a worse outcome in the higher-dose group.
The transition from cognitive impairment to dementia was about 20%-25% per year, and this was, again, not different.
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Cite this: Hans-Christoph Diener. 5 New Neurology Studies to Know - Medscape - May 23, 2019.
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Authors and Disclosures
Authors and Disclosures
Author(s)
Hans-Christoph Diener, MD, PhD
Professor, Department of Neurology, Stroke Center-Headache Center, University Duisburg-Essen, Hufelandstrasse, Essen, Germany
Disclosure: Hans-Christoph Diener, MD, PhD, has disclosed the following relevant financial relationships:
Received honoraria for participation in clinical trials, contribution to advisory boards or oral presentations from: Abbott; Addex Pharma; Alder; Allergan; Almirall; Amgen; Autonomic Technology; AstraZeneca; Bayer Vital; Berlin Chemie; Bristol-Myers Squibb; Boehringer Ingelheim; Chordate; CoAxia; Corimmun; Covidien; Coherex; CoLucid; Daiichi-Sankyo; D-Pharml Electrocore; Fresenius; GlaxoSmithKline; Grunenthal; Janssen Cilag; Labrys Biologics Lilly; La Roche; 3M Medica; MSD; Medtronic; Menarini; MindFrame; Minster; Neuroscore; Neurobiological Technologies; Novartis; Novo-Nordisk; Johnson & Johnson; Knoll; Paion; Parke-Davis; Pierre Fabre; Pfizer Inc; Schaper and Brummer; sanofi-aventis; Schering-Plough; Servier; Solvay; Syngis; St. Jude; Talecris; Thrombogenics; WebMD Global; Weber and Weber; Wyeth and Yamanouchi
Received financial support for research projects from: Allergan; Almirall; Astra/Zeneca; Bayer; Boehringer Ingelheim; Electrocore; GlaxoSmithKline; Janssen-Cilag; Lundbeck; MSD; Novartis; Pfizer; Janssen-Cilag; sanofi-aventis; Syngis; Talecris.
The Department of Neurology in Essen is supported by the German Research Council (DFG), the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), European Union, National Institutes of Health, Bertelsmann Foundation, and Heinz-Nixdorf Foundation.
Dr Diener has no ownership interest and does not own stocks of any pharmaceutical company.
Within the past year Dr Diener served as editor of Aktuelle Neurologie, Arzneimitteltherapie, Kopfschmerznews, Stroke News, and the Treatment Guidelines of the German Neurological Society; as co-editor of Cephalalgia, and on the editorial board of Lancet Neurology, Stroke, European Neurology, and Cerebrovascular Disorders.
Hans-Christoph Diener, MD, PhD, has no ownership interest in and does not own stocks of any pharmaceutical company.