Novel drug delivery method shows promise in Alzheimer’s
Posted: 4 January 2024 | Catherine Eckford (European Pharmaceutical Review) | No comments yet
Ultrasound combined with a biologic treatment has demonstrated the ability to safely reduce brain amyloid plaques in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients, a first-in-human study shows.
US researchers have demonstrated the potential of a targeted drug delivery method that uses focused ultrasound in combination with anti-amyloid-beta monoclonal antibody treatment, as a way to accelerate brain amyloid-beta plaque clearance in Alzheimer’s.
The paper, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, described that in the first-in-human study, the focused ultrasound system was able to safely and temporarily open the blood-brain barrier to allow the anti-amyloid-beta antibodies increased access to targeted areas of the brain.
Current promising antibody therapies have limitations in reaching the brain due to the blood-brain barrier. Over 98 percent of drugs do not readily cross this barrier, thus requiring systemic treatments with higher doses and more frequent therapies, the researchers highlighted.
Three patients with mild Alzheimer’s received six standard monthly infusions of aducanumab antibody. The MRI-guided ultrasound treatment was then delivered via a helmet to regions with high amyloid-beta plaques.
“[For Alzheimer’s patients] After six months of antibody treatment, we observed an average of 32 percent more reduction in amyloid-beta plaques in brain areas with blood-brain barrier opening compared to areas with no such opening”
“After six months of antibody treatment, we observed an average of 32 percent more reduction in amyloid-beta plaques in brain areas with blood-brain barrier opening compared to areas with no such opening,” Dr Ali Rezai, lead author of the study and executive chair of the West Virginia University Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute (RNI) confirmed. Focused ultrasound therefore has “great promise for improving drug delivery to the brain” he added.
Dr Rezai also shared: “The next phase of the clinical trial will begin this year to explore how to further accelerate amyloid-beta removal in a shorter time with focused ultrasound in combination with lecanemab antibody.”
Novel drug delivery: crossing the blood-brain barrier to deliver Alzheimer’s treatments
An article published on EPR in October 2023 stated that other treatment delivery routes for the disease, such as intravenous or intramuscular administration for siRNA, is viable. Yet several barriers in the body must be overcome to reach its target site, such as the blood-brain barrier.
Related topics
Antibodies, Big Pharma, Biopharmaceuticals, Clinical Development, Clinical Trials, Drug Delivery Systems, Drug Safety, Imaging, Research & Development (R&D), Technology, Therapeutics, Ultrasound
