Could There Be a Vaccine for Alzheimer's? A New Drug Shows Promise in Trials

Alzheimer’s is an irreversible and progressive brain disorder that affects memory and thinking skills, eventually rendering most patients unable to perform everyday tasks. But a leading clinical-stage biotech company has published completed phase II results of AADvac1, its tau vaccine against Alzheimer’s disease, with positive results. ADAMANT, a 24-month randomised, placebo-controlled, trial, was conducted to assess the safety and efficacy of AADvac1 vaccine in patients with mild Alzheimer’s. While the primary objective was to evaluate the safety and tolerability of long-term AADvac1 treatment, the secondary objectives included the evaluation of immunogenicity and vaccine efficacy in slowing cognitive and functional decline. The vaccine was found to be most effective on the subgroup of patients with confirmed Alzheimer’s disease biomarker profiles.

Axion Neuroscience, a clinical-stage biotech company at the forefront of treating and preventing Alzheimer’s disease, conducted the study. For it, the company recruited 196 patients from eight European countries.

The results of its completed Phase II study were published in the journal Nature Aging. The abstract of the report stated: “Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathology is partly characterised by accumulation of aberrant forms of tau protein. Here, we report the results of ADAMANT, a 24-month double-blinded, parallel-arm, randomised phase 2 multi-center placebo-controlled trial of AADvac1.”