By Bill Alpert

Hopes are rising for better ways to deal with Alzheimer's disease.

Late Monday, AbbVie announced an agreement to buy a firm that is testing a more effective way of battling the illness. AbbVie is spending $1.4 billion for Aliada, a start-up that is in Phase 1 testing of an antibody that can penetrate the blood-brain barrier better than approved Alzheimer's drugs like Eli Lilly's Kisunla or the Esai/ Biogen product Leqembi.

That transaction, seen as a vote of confidence, has put the focus on other drug firms testing similar barrier-bridging antibodies. Chief among them is Roche Holding: Wednesday morning it will report interim Phase 2 results for its antibody trontinemab, which promises to be the best Alzheimer's treatment so far.

The Lilly and Biogen antibodies were the first treatments shown to change the course of Alzheimer's, by getting the immune system to clear brain cells of the amyloid plaque that kills them. But because the brain's blood vessels present a barrier to large molecules such as antibodies, as little as 0.1% of plaque-targeting antibodies get to the brain.

Both Roche and Aliada attach a protein to their antibodies that unlocks something called the transferrin receptor. That gets more of their treatment across the blood-brain barrier, so a lower dose could achieve higher efficacy with fewer side effects.

In Madrid at 7:45 a.m. local time Wednesday, Roche is showing its latest data on trontinemab at a meeting called Clinical Trials on Alzheimer's Disease. In a preview at last month's shareholders' meeting, Roche said its antibody rapidly cleared amyloid plaque at relatively low doses, with few serious side effects.

Roche is trademarking its blood-brain barrier-opening technology as "Brainshuttle." It expects the technique to also work in Parkinson's disease and other neurological afflictions. The final data from its Phase 2 Alzheimer's study will arrive in early 2025. If they look good, Roche hopes to move quickly into Phase three trials.

AbbVie plunked down its $1.4 billion for Aliada without even having Phase 1 results in hand. If the results are good, AbbVie could be Roche's fast-follower across the blood-brain barrier.

In research reports Tuesday, analysts pointed to other drug companies pursuing treatments that would penetrate the blood-brain barrier. Baird analyst Jack Allen noted that his Buy-rated Voyager Therapeutics has done animal research on such drugs.

Denali Therapeutics has a number of neurology programs based on its Transport Vehicle technology, wrote B. Riley's Mayank Mamtani. None are in clinical trials, but the analyst sees this week's AbbVie news as validation of his Buy rating on Denali stock.

Write to Bill Alpert at william.alpert@barrons.com

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October 29, 2024 17:31 ET (21:31 GMT)

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