Lilly's Donanemab Lowers Alzheimer's-Associated Biomarkers In Patients With Early Disease

Eli Lilly And Co LLY rolled out the new exploratory analyses of the Trailblazer Phase 2 trial at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference.
According to a statement, the first analysis found that patients who received donanemab showed a more significant change in amyloid plaque levels, which was "highly associated with less cognitive decline," according to a statement. In that analysis, Lilly also found that participants who had greater plaque clearance at 24 weeks showed less tau progression.
The second analysis revealed that donanemab rapidly reduces another Alzheimer's related biomarker, called plasma P-tau217.
In the first analysis, patients with early symptomatic disease but with the most severe plaque burden showed the most rapid clearance.
These patients were able to stop or reduce their dose of donanemab earlier than other patients.
Patients who had early complete clearance of plaques at 24 weeks showed a decrease in the spread of tau in imaging scans done at 76 weeks compared to placebo, a predictive biomarker for Alzheimer's.
Earlier results from the phase 2 study issued in March showed that donanemab met its goal of improving cognitive dysfunction in patients with low-to-medium presence of tau.
Price Action: LLY shares closed at $245.33 on Thursday.