Asthma drug may help treat Alzheimer’s disease: Biogen’s antibody therapy awaits FDA approval

Asthma drug salbutamol helps prevent the formation of proteins associated with Alzheimer’s disease, reveals a new study.

By: Longjam Dineshwori | | Updated: July 13, 2020 8:42 am

Tags: Alzeimer's disease Alzheimer's treatment

Alzheimer's is a type of dementia that affects memory, thinking and behaviour.

Around 50 million people are believed to be living with Alzheimer’s disease (AD)or other dementias worldwide. This number is more than the population of Columbia, according to the United Nations. Alzheimer’s disease is a neurological disorder that occurs when nerve cells in the brain die, resulting in memory loss and cognitive decline. Scientists have made some breakthroughs that could change the Alzheimer’s treatment landscape. Also Read - Get a flu shot if you want to bring down your risk of Alzheimer’s disease

A laboratory study, published in the journal ACS Chemical Neuroscience, has suggested that asthma drug salbutamol may help treat Alzheimer’s disease. The researchers at Lancaster University in the United Kingdom found that salbutamol help prevent the formation of proteins associated with the disease. Also Read - Indian researchers discover secret to reduce poisoning of nerve cells that leads to memory loss in Alzheimer’s disease

Asthma drug shows promise in AD treatment

The brains of Alzheimer’s patients have plaques (made of beta-amyloid protein) between the nerve cells and clumps of fibers called neurofibrillary tangles (made up of tau protein) inside the cells. As drugs that clear the beta-amyloid protein did not slow down the progression of the disease, the researchers shifted their attention to tau. Also Read - Alzheimer’s: Flickering lights may help fight the disease

They then tested the efficacy of 80 compounds in blocking the formation of the tau tangles. One of the compounds that show promising results was the hormone epinephrine, which helps stabilized tau proteins and successfully inhibited them from forming the tangles. However, since the body metabolizes epinephrine rapidly, the researchers started looking for drugs that have the same chemical structure as that of epinephrine and zeroed in on asthma drug salbutamol. Upon further testing, they found that salbutamol binds to tau molecules and prevents them from forming a nuclei, and hence reduces the possibility of other proteins to aggregate.

However, the researchers noted that their work is in the very early stages, and that further studies are needed to confirm whether or not salbutamol will be effective at treating Alzheimer’s disease in human patients. Further testing will be done on animal models of the disease, they added.

Will the FDA approve Biogen’s antibody therapy?

Meanwhile, Biogen believes that its new antibody therapy could change the Alzheimer’s treatment landscape. The American multinational biotechnology company has completed the submission of a Biologics License Application (BLA) of its monoclonal antibody (mAb) aducanumab to the FDA for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. The drug, which helps clear amyloid plaques in the brain, is expected to be the first drug to reach the AD market.

However, some experts have expressed doubts about its approval from federal regulators due to a lack of substantial evidence about the efficacy of the drug. While one study showed convincing clinical efficacy with the high-dose arm, another study failed to show the same pattern of target engagement or clinical efficacy.

But key opinion leaders (KOLs) said that PDA is unlikely to turn down aducanumab even if its benefit is modest, as there is no therapy that is truly efficacious in Alzheimer’s treatment. The experts noted that no drug has been approved in the past 17 years in this disease area.

In March 2020, Biogen started a new multicenter safety study of aducanumab named EMBARK, including Alzheimer’s patients who had previously participated in the aducanumab studies. The trial was scheduled to be completed in Q3 2023 but it has been halted due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Published : July 12, 2020 6:38 pm | Updated:July 13, 2020 8:42 am

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