Drug that stops dementia to be trialled in Australia next month

A world-leading drug that can delay or even stop the onset of Alzheimer’s disease will be trialled in Australia next month. Researchers are looking to find “as many people as possible”.

A world-leading experimental dementia drug designed to prevent the disease before it begins will be trialled in Australia for the first time from next month.

Local researchers will test whether a new injectable drug can delay or even stop the onset of Alzheimer’s disease when given to patients before they begin having noticeable symptoms.

Royal Melbourne Hospital will be one of more than a dozen sites around Australia taking part in the major global trial for the new drug, named remternetug.

RMH Cognitive Neurology lead Professor Amy Brodtmann said they were looking to find as many people “as possible” within their short recruitment time of just a few months.

“You’d be involved in a world-first medication that potentially could avert the onset of Alzheimer’s,” Professor Brodtmann said.

“I’m very hopeful that this is going to work.”

She said, if successful, the drug would “transform treatment” by opening the door for early screening programs.

“That’s a complete transformation of the health system landscape,” she said.

“We’ll be thinking about doing a blood test at 60 or 70, just like at 50 you get offered certain tests.”

A drug which could stop the onset of the most common form of dementia will be trialled in Australia next month.

Professor Brodtmann said dementia was thought to be caused by the build-up of two proteins in the brain and there were “two major candidates”.

“We know that tau is the one that seems to actually drive the degeneration of the brain, but there’s an understanding that the amyloid has to be there before the tau can do its damage.

“Why don’t we try to drive down the amyloid first so that the tau can’t go and do its

mischief?”

But despite significant advancements in recent years — including the U.S approval of the first two Alzheimer’s drugs that target amyloid — treatment options remain limited.

Those drugs, lecanemab and donanemab, have not been approved in Australia and were not designed for patients pre-diagnosis.

Professor Brodtmann said the two drugs sought to remove the clumps of amyloid protein, but this new trial drug tried to stop the build-up — and resulting brain damage — before it began by reducing the protein’s “stickiness”.

Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia.

“Let’s actually stop those plaques from forming,” she said.

The new drug was developed by Eli Lilly, the same company behind donanemab, and can be self-injected, like some diabetes medications.

It is administered every one to two months and patients in the trial will have 12 injections over a year and a half, though the study may be extended and last longer.

Professor Brodtmann said this trial was significant because it was aimed at people with the “very earliest changes”, such as those who notice issues like getting lost while driving or concern from loved ones but still get “normal” scores on cognitive tests.

The trial, open to people aged 65 to 80 who do not have a diagnosis, will screen for such patients by testing their blood for an early indicator of Alzheimer’s.

Participants will need to undergo MRI scans as part of the study, and half will receive a placebo.

Dementia Australia Honorary Medical Advisor Associate Professor Michael Woodward said the trial was “absolutely” a significant development for local patients, and we needed better options for early treatment.

Professor Woodward, who had also advised Eli Lilly and heads up aged care research at Austin Health, another trial site, said it was great to be able to offer amyloid targeting therapies to patients.

For details on the trial, contact [e-mail] for the site at RMH and [e-mail] for Box Hill Hospital’s site.

All other Victorian and interstate locations can be found online.

Originally published as Drug that stops dementia to be trialled in Australia next month