Athira Outlines Possible Comeback For Alzheimer's Candidate

Athira Pharma Inc ATHA announced an update to its plans for the ongoing LIFT-AD trial of fosgonimeton (ATH-1017) for mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD).
Following an exploratory study looking at long-term effects, Athira plans to amend its Phase 2 trial and include new cognition, function, and neurodegeneration measurements.
The primary endpoint will remain the same, but Athira will closely scrutinize its drug, fosgonimeton, in patients who aren't using another therapy to treat Alzheimer's-related dementia.
In June, the company announced that the exploratory ACT-AD Phase 2 study did not meet the primary endpoint of a statistically significant change in ERP P300 Latency when compared with the placebo.
Specifically, Athira will look at how well the drug affects those who don't take background acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEIs).
In a subgroup of the 77-patient of the failed exploratory study, Athira says it saw positive numerical trends in post-hoc analyses for this group in a litany of measures.
These included an Alzheimer's cognitive test known as ADAS-Cog11, memory processing speed measured by ERP P300 latency, and how caretakers assessed their patients' daily living.
Athira described neurofilament as "a validated fluid biomarker of neurodegeneration."
Price Action: ATHA shares are trading 1.84% lower at $3.20 on the last check Tuesday.