Mechanism of Action and Potential of Anti-Tau Agent BIIB080: Ivana Rubino, PhD, BSc

WATCH TIME: 4 minutes

"We're still at the early stages of the tau, but what we know from the biology is that tau pathology relates very directly to the symptomatology of these patients. So that's why targeting tau becomes a sort of very logic next step in our fight against Alzheimer disease."

Alzheimer disease (AD) is characterized pathologically by amyloid-ß (Aß) plaques and tau neurofibrillary tangles in the brain, with associated loss of synapses and neurons, which eventually results in dementia. In recent years, research has allowed drug development to reach new heights with the introduction of novel, antiamyloid treatments; however, these drugs have shown to only have limited benefits in major clinical trials, further reinforcing the need for a combination approach of new targets, including tau.

At the 2024 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC), held July 28-August 1, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Biogen presented several posters, including a phase 1b study (NCT03186989) on an anti-tau agent, BIIB080. The study featured 46 patients with clinically mild AD who were randomly assigned to either BIIB080 or placebo via intrathecal injection for 37 weeks. At week 25, participants who received high doses of the agent had, on average, favorable scores on clinical tests measuring cognitive function and functional skills compared with those on placebo. In addition, this group demonstrated greater benefits on clinical outcomes such as the Mini-Mental State Exam, FAQ, and RBANS delayed memory.

During the meeting, Ivana Rubino, PhD, BSc, head of Global Medical for Neuropsychiatry and Alzheimer Disease at Biogen, sat down with NeurologyLive® to discuss the company’s ongoing initiatives, including BIIB080. She spoke on the mechanism of action of the therapy, the ways to target tau pathology, and the promising early-stage findings. In addition, she spoke on the future of combination therapies, utilizing amyloid and tau-targeting treatments based on individual patient pathology, to truly impact AD disease progression.

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REFERENCE
1. Ziogas N, Wu S, Li Y, et al. Exploratory clinical outcomes in people with mild Alzhiemer disease treated with the investigational drug BIIB080: a phase 1b study. Presented at: AAIC, July 28-August 1, 2024; ABSTRACT 88868