SAN DIEGO: Novo Nordisk in 2020 launched pivotal trials of its GLP-1 drug semaglutide in Alzheimer’s patients based on studies in humans, animals and real-world findings, a top company executive said on Tuesday (Dec 2), acknowledging criticism that Novo’s studies had design flaws.
Although the trials failed to show statistically significant slowing of cognitive decline in patients given the drug, “we still think it was the right decision … a scientific question that needed an answer,” Peter Johannsen, Novo’s international medical vice president, said in an address at the Clinical Trials in Alzheimer’s Disease meeting in San Diego.
Data, now consolidated on Novo’s website, had shown evidence that the GLP-1 hormone is involved in neurotransmission, with multiple effects across the brain, he said.
While Alzheimer’s is defined by the presence of toxic amyloid plaques in the brain, “there are still things we don’t know” about the pathology of the disease, Johannsen said. “This is a very complex disease with a lot of things going on with different genetic signatures.”
Novo is slated to present on Wednesday initial results from the two 2-year studies that tested Novo’s GLP-1 diabetes pill Rybelsus against a placebo in nearly 4,000 Alzheimer’s patients.
Full results will be presented at a different medical meeting in March. The company issued a short press release last week saying the studies did not meet their goals.
