Alzheimer's disease research has taken a step back as Baxter International Inc. announced that they are canceling late-stage trials of a drug developed to treat the condition.
The antibody treatment, known as Gammagard, did not display any signs of improving cognitive decline or functional ability in patients.
Baxter says that they will continue to research the drug's affect on the subjects who did show some signs of improvement in Gammagard trials, like those with a moderate form of the disease or who carry the ApoE4 gene that increases the risk for Alzheimer's.
But the study's two main goals were to improve cognitive decline and functional ability — two benefits that Gammagard did not offer after 18 months of treatment in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease.
Gammagard, once thought to be a beacon of hope for Alzheimer's patients, was shown to stabilize the condition in four patients for at least three years in a study released last summer.
And even more detrimental to Alzheimer's disease research, Gammagard was the last drug remaining in late-stage development.
The treatment, created from natural antibodies cultivated from young and healthy blood donors, is administered intravenously and is also used to treat patients with compromised immune systems who need help fighting infections.
There were 17 serious adverse reactions detected during drug trials and were determined to be treatment-related, but president of Baxter's bioscience business Ludwig Hantson said the drug was generally well tolerated.
About 5 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia and the sixth leading cause of death in the U.S.