Biogen's Alzheimer's Antibody Might Have A Third Death Associated With

A third death is supposedly linked with Biogen Inc's BIIB investigational Alzheimer's antibody, lecanemab.
Science has obtained medical records showing that a 79-year-old Florida woman participating in an ongoing antibody trial died in mid-September after experiencing extensive brain swelling, bleeding, and seizures.
Treatment with lecanemab reduced clinical decline on the global cognitive and functional scale by 27% at 18 months, relative to the placebo, which was the primary endpoint.
Multiple neuroscientists who reviewed the records at Science's request believe the antibody, lecanemab, likely caused her death.
Related: Biogen's Potential Early Alzheimer's Treatment Sees Second Death Linked To It.
"The brain swelling and the microhemorrhages … could be a serious side effect of the study medication" and should be evaluated by trial investigators, says Ellis van Etten, a neuroscientist and neurologist at Leiden University.
The newly revealed death comes in addition to other reports of serious brain bleeding and swelling in the core clinical trial and two other deaths in the extension phase linked to the candidate.
Eisai Limited ESALY has reported 13 deaths in the core clinical trial, which involved about 1800 people.
Lecanemab is one of several experimental Alzheimer's drugs that target beta-amyloid, the protein that builds up in the brains of people with the disease.
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