Boston Globe: Can Biogen’s backup plan for Alzheimer’s succeed?

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Biogen and its partner, Eisai, have submitted another therapy to the FDA for approval. But as with the failed Aduhelm, experts are divided on the drug.

Decades of failed attempts to cure or better treat Alzheimer’s have tempered expectations for new drugs. No one expects lecanemab to reverse the disease or even completely halt memory loss. In Eisai’s intermediate clinical trial of lecanemab, which was published last year, the highest dose slowed one measure of cognitive decline by about 33 percent over 18 months, compared with 22 percent in one of two Phase 3 trials of Aduhelm.

“It is possible that there could be a bigger clinical effect with lecanemab,” but it might not be enough for clinicians or families to notice, said Dr. Brent P. Forester, chief of geriatric psychiatry at McLean, who is leading the hospital’s Clarity AD study and previously led studies there on Aduhelm. “It is hard to imagine that it will be dramatically better, especially based on what I’ve seen with people that I’ve treated in these trials.”

That’s been Courtney’s experience so far. “I suspect that there is a little bit of a change, but not much,” he said. But since there’s nothing else available to slow memory loss, he added, even a modestly effective therapy would “absolutely” be meaningful to him.

Aduhelm’s meager benefit in one trial was undercut by a second Biogen study that suggested the drug was no better than a placebo. And potentially dangerous side effects made Aduhelm a hard sell. Now, many experts are hoping the Clarity AD trial will paint a clearer picture of the drug’s possible benefits.


 












Ok. I’m just saying that if Biogen has anything to do with it, then it will fail even with full approval of the phase 3 is positive.
That being said, the psych quoted in that article is the equivalent of the toothless, stained white tank top wearing red neck that gets interviewed after something bad happens in his neighborhood. No shit they won’t see improvement. The point is to slow the decline, moron.
 






















































anonymous said:
We as reps all know the shit show that is Biogen. The only feedback we get from our manager is that we should be happy that we get the salaries that we have. Is that the official line now?
Click to expand...
You get paid a handsome salary to go out and convince neuros that your old drugs are the BEST! Quit your whining and go do the job you were paid to do! STFU!
 












What are investors thinking? This is a broken company.

Their talent and capabilities are massively deteriorated.

Their big franchises are on the decline and facing more modern molecules at the leading edge and biosimilars/generics on the trailing edge. Lecant is probably at BEST a barely statistically significant positive, marginal muddled efficacy data, and significant safety events. So its not a likely slam dunk at best. So no big wins on the horizon and a decay in existing franchises.

So yeah. Seems like a losing proposition (a value trap with no yield)
 






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