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The first details of how Eli Lilly’s solanezumab drug could slow the pace of brain decline for patients with early stage Alzheimer’s disease have emerged.

Data from pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly suggests its drug can cut the rate of the dementia’s progression by about a third.

The results, presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in the US, are being met with cautious optimism.

A new trial is due to report next year and should provide definitive evidence.

The death of brain cells in Alzheimer’s is currently unstoppable. Solanezumab may be able to keep them alive.Eli Lilly solanezumab dementia treatment

Current medication, such as Aricept (Donepezil), can manage only the symptoms of dementia by helping the dying brain cells function.

But solanezumab attacks the deformed proteins, called amyloid, that build up in the brain during Alzheimer’s.

It is thought the formation of sticky plaques of amyloid between nerve cells leads to damage and eventually brain cell death.

Solanezumab has long been the great hope of dementia research, yet an 18-month trial of the drug seemingly ended in failure in 2012.

However, when Eli Lilly looked more closely at the data, there were hints it could be working for patients in the earliest stages of the disease.

It appeared to slow progression by around 34% during the study.

So the company asked just over 1,000 of the patients in the original trial with mild Alzheimer’s to take the drug for another two years.

Positive results from this extension of the original trial have now been presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference.

They show those taking the drugs the longest had the most benefit.

Eli Lilly also started a completely separate trial in mild patients in 2012, and these results could prove to be the definitive moment for the drug.

In the first stage of the original trial, which ended in failure, half of the patients with Alzheimer’s were given solanezumab and half were not.

A reanalysis of the cognition scores of the patients with mild Alzheimer’s suggested taking the drug had cut the rate of the disease’s progression by about 34%.

The implication is that the amount of cognitive decline normally seen in 18 months would take 24 months with the drug.

In the extension of the original trial, all of the 1,000-plus mild Alzheimer’s patients participating were given solanezumab.

At the end of the extension, half of them had been taking the drug for three and a half years while the other half had been taking it for two years.

The latest data shows those taking solanezumab for the longest time still had better scores of cognitive function.

This suggests the course of the disease was being slowed.

If the patients’ brains had continued to decline at the normal pace and the drug had been merely helping with symptoms, then all of the patients participating in the extension of the original trial – whether they had been taking solanezumab for three and a half or two years – would have had similar scores of cognitive function.

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Data on Solanezumab, the most promising drug in treating Alzheimer’s disease, is set to be unveiled on July 22.

Patients and scientists hope Solanezumab (Alzforum) could become the first medication to slow the pace of brain decline.

The decline in Alzheimer’s is unstoppable – drugs can help with symptoms, but nothing prevents the inexorable death of brain cells.

Hints at the drug’s effectiveness will be outlined, but Solanezumab has been the great hope of dementia research.

Eli Lilly’s drug targets deformed proteins called amyloid that build up in the brain during Alzheimer’s.

Solanezumab is thought the formation of sticky plaques of amyloid between nerve cells leads to damage and eventually brain cell death.Solanezumab dementia drug

Trials of Solanezumab seemingly ended in failure in 2012.

When the company looked more closely at the data, there were hints it could be working for patients in the earliest stages of the disease.

Those people have continued to take the drugs and results on how they have progressed are due to be revealed later at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Washington.

It is known that these drugs are not stopping, halting or curing dementia.

The closer analysis of the 2012 data showed that all patients continued their cognitive decline – but seemingly at a slower pace in those taking the drugs.

Yet developing a drug that just slows the pace of dementia would be regarded by experts as a groundbreaking moment.

Estimates suggest that delaying the onset of dementia by five years would reduce the number of cases by a third.

Data being released on July 22 could represent a step closer to that breakthrough drug, but the critical moment will be a fresh clinical trial expected to report next year.

The idea that amyloid is the main culprit in Alzheimer’s is still hotly debated so promising drug trial data would also hint that scientists are at least on the right track.

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Pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly has said it is “deeply concerned” by claims that it bribed Chinese doctors to prescribe its drugs.

Chinese paper 21st Century Business Herald cited a former staff, identified by a pseudonym, as saying Eli Lilly paid out 30 million yuan ($4.9 million).

The claims come at a time when China is investigating some drugs firms over similar bribery allegations.

Eli Lilly said it had launched an internal probe last year after a former manager made similar allegations against it.

“At the time of the allegations, we did an exhaustive investigation to search for any evidence of kickbacks,” the company said in a statement.

“Although we have not been able to verify these allegations, we take them seriously and we are continuing our investigation.”

The drugmaker said it interviewed employees, monitored emails and audited expense reports as part of its internal probe.

Eli Lilly has said it is "deeply concerned" by claims that it bribed Chinese doctors to prescribe its drugs

Eli Lilly has said it is “deeply concerned” by claims that it bribed Chinese doctors to prescribe its drugs

However, it said it had not employed any sales managers by the name of Wang Wei, who was mentioned in the 21st Century Business Herald report.

Eli Lilly is the latest foreign drugmaker to be engulfed by such claims in China.

Earlier this week, a British risk consultant, Peter Humphrey, was formally arrested by Chinese authorities amid a continuing probe into pharmaceutical companies.

One of the companies being probed, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), is reportedly a former client of Peter Humphrey’s firm, ChinaWhys.

Chinese authorities have accused GSK of directing up to $500 million through travel agencies to facilitate bribes to doctors and officials.

GSK has said that some senior executives in its China office appeared to have broken the law and several GSK employees have also been detained over the last few weeks.

In July, Chinese police had visited the Shanghai office of AstraZeneca and took an employee in for questioning.