Monoclonal Antibodies in Development for Alzheimer Disease: Anton Porsteinsson, MD

WATCH TIME: 9 minutes

“In my book, what’s happening with the other humanized monoclonal antibodies that target fibrillary and, to some degree, soluble beta-amyloid—that’s a very intriguing story. It goes beyond aducanumab.”

Last year, the field of Alzheimer disease (AD) underwent a massive change, headlined by the FDA approval of the first therapy for the disease since 2003: aducanumab (Aduhelm; Biogen). Although, despite the controversial conversations happening around the approval of the antiamyloid monoclonal antibody, far more was happening in the background.

For Anton Porsteinsson, MD, director, Alzheimer's Disease Care, Research and Education Program; William B. and Sheila Konar Professor of Psychiatry, School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Rochester, the bustling activity of the pipeline is a sign of health for the field. In a conversation with NeurologyLive®, he highlighted some of the progress that has been made by additional antiamyloid-ß antibodies in the pipeline and offered his insight into how their advancement will lend a better idea of the effectiveness of the overall class of medicines.

Porsteinsson focused on the 3 main players that are making their way through phase 3 trials—namely lecanemab (Eisai/Biogen), donanemab (Eli Lilly), and gantenerumab (Roche)—and provided context on the current understanding of their effect on AD and the structure of their clinical trials. All 3 agents have been fast tracked for review by the FDA, and a few of them are expected to attempt the same route of accelerated approval that aducanumab did.