SAN DIEGO: Novo Nordisk in 2020 launched pivotal trials of its GLP-1 drug semaglutide in Alzheimer’s sufferers based mostly on research in people, animals and real-world findings, a prime firm govt mentioned on Tuesday (Dec 2), acknowledging criticism that Novo’s research had design flaws.
Though the trials failed to point out statistically important slowing of cognitive decline in sufferers given the drug, “we nonetheless assume it was the proper resolution … a scientific query that wanted a solution,” Peter Johannsen, Novo’s worldwide medical vp, mentioned in an handle on the Scientific Trials in Alzheimer’s Illness assembly in San Diego.
Knowledge, now consolidated on Novo’s web site, had proven proof that the GLP-1 hormone is concerned in neurotransmission, with a number of results throughout the mind, he mentioned.
Whereas Alzheimer’s is outlined by the presence of poisonous amyloid plaques within the mind, “there are nonetheless issues we do not know” in regards to the pathology of the illness, Johannsen mentioned. “This can be a very advanced illness with numerous issues occurring with totally different genetic signatures.”
Novo is slated to current on Wednesday preliminary outcomes from the 2 2-year research that examined Novo’s GLP-1 diabetes capsule Rybelsus in opposition to a placebo in almost 4,000 Alzheimer’s sufferers.
Full outcomes will likely be introduced at a unique medical assembly in March. The corporate issued a brief press launch final week saying the research didn’t meet their targets.
