In recent years, Alzheimer's disease, which usually occurs in the elderly, has caused a global health crisis.

So it attracted a lot of attention on Tuesday after Eisai Co., Ltd. and Biogen announced that the new drug could significantly alleviate the cognitive decline.The new drug Lecanemab becomes the first drug that can significantly slow down the development of Alzheimer's disease in the final trial.It has set an important milestone for the treatment of the disease.

After the release of the news, the U. S. stock market after Alzheimer's disease concept stocks rose.$Cassava Sciences (SAVA.US)$At one point it rose to nearly 4%.$Eli Lilly and Co (LLY.US)$At one point, it rose to 6.4%.

The two companies said in a statement on Tuesday that the results of phase III clinical trials showed that Eisai and Bojian's Alzheimer's treatment could help alleviate symptoms.Within 18 months, the drug slowed down the cognitive decline of early patients by 27% compared with the control group, reaching the main goal of the trial.Although the effect is mild, it is highly statistically significant.

The significance of the new drug development for Alzheimer's treatment should not be underestimated, and researchers have been working for decades to find treatments that can slow the progression of the disease. Although the new drug Lecanemab does not completely stop cognitive decline or help patients recover their minds.But this is the first time that researchers have clearly found that drugs may slow the disease.

According to the media, Lon Schneider, professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at the University of Southern California, said that according to the results of the study,Lecanemab may be fully approved by US regulatorsHowever, the discussion about drugs is not over yet.

Schneider mentioned in an interview that the focus of the discussion will be on the small dose and whether the drug has clinical significance.

The two companies said in a statement that the trial met all key secondary goals, including several measures such as cognitive ability and activity ability. Lecanemab has been evaluated by US regulators through a special "accelerated approval" approach, and the two companies said they would apply for full approval based on the test results.

Eisai said it would apply for full approval of Lecanemab by the end of March 2023. The company also said it would apply for marketing licenses in Europe and Japan based on the new results within the same time frame.

In the statement, the two companies did not elaborate on the test results. The results of the full trial are expected to be presented at a medical conference on November 29, and the two companies said they would publish the results in medical journals.

However, at present, the side effects of Lecanemab are still serious, including brain swelling and cerebral hemorrhage.Of the 1795 patients who participated in the trial, 21.3% of the patients who received drug treatment developed brain swelling or cerebral hemorrhage.

Can Lecanemab help the amyloid hypothesis regain public confidence?

Lecanemab is the latest in a series of drugs aimed at removing amyloid, a toxic protein that has long been thought to cause brain chaos in people with Alzheimer's.

Previous trials of amyloid-reducing drugs have yielded different results or failed, but the progress of Lecanemab research supports this controversial theory and may help other anti-amyloid drugs make progress in trials.

It is worth noting that in July this year, a major survey report pointed to the authenticity of the "amyloid hypothesis", and there was a public outcry.

On July 21 this year, Science magazine released an in-depth investigation report entitled "academic taint".It is pointed out that a groundbreaking paper in the field of Alzheimer's disease 16 years ago is suspected of being falsified.In this paper, the author Sylvain Lesn é, a neurologist at the University of Minnesota, provides a strong support for the mainstream etiological hypothesis of Alzheimer's disease, the β-amyloid hypothesis, and its importance is self-evident.

Although this fight against counterfeiting only involves the oligomer structure of A β 56, which has not yet subverted the whole A β hypothesis, it will weaken public confidence in the A β hypothesis to some extent.