New Data Suggest Treatment Effect on Cognition Leads to the Treatment Effect on Function in Patients with Mild Alzheimer’s Disease

1 December 2014

Indianapolis, IN, USA -- Today, Eli Lilly and Company announced results from new analyses of two Phase 3 trials evaluating the relationship between cognitive and functional treatment effects in patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease. Based on post-hoc analyses of the Phase 3 trials, the findings suggested that cognitive deficits were more apparent than functional deficits in mild Alzheimer’s disease when measured with the Alzheimer’s disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive (ADAS-Cog) and the Alzheimer’s disease Cooperative Study-Activities of Daily Living (ADCS-ADL) subscales. The apparent treatment effect on cognition based on these analyses led to the apparent treatment effect on function. These data were published in the December 2 issue of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

“These data are important as they suggest that functional outcomes should be considered key secondary endpoints in a clinical trial of patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease dementia, and they are consistent with the idea that Alzheimer’s disease is primarily a disease of cognition and the functional deficits are mostly a consequence of these cognitive deficits,” said Hong Liu-Seifert, Ph.D., study research advisor at Eli Lilly and Company. “We believe cognition and function are important to patients and caregivers and these data suggest that cognitive treatment effect drives functional treatment effect and can be considered a leading indicator for functional effect in patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease.”

Using pooled data from the solanezumab Phase 3 EXPEDITION and EXPEDITION2 trials, these post-hoc path analyses investigated the origins of the effects of solanezumab on cognition and function. This analysis showed that the effect on function was largely driven by effects of treatment on cognition (87 percent), with a relatively small portion (13 percent) due to a direct effect of solanezumab or through aspects of cognition not measured by the ADAS-Cog14 [1]. When the analysis was reversed, the effect on cognition was primarily due to a direct effect of solanezumab or through indirect effects not measured by the instrumental ADL (ADCS-iADL) (67 percent) with a smaller portion (33 percent) driven by an effect on function [1].

Further, normalized ADAS-Cog and ADCS-ADL subscales showed cognitive impairment was more evident than functional impairment in mild Alzheimer’s disease [1]. The correlation between cognition and function increased over time [1]. Results also showed that the iADL subscale showed greater impairment compared to the basic ADL (bADL) subscale, consistent with previous findings that iADL impairment precedes bADL impairment in the course of Alzheimer’s disease progression. The results also suggest that iADL measures can be more sensitive than bADL measures in mild Alzheimer’s disease patients [1]. Similar patterns were observed regarding the apparent treatment difference of solanezumab versus placebo, with effect on ADAS-Cog being the greatest, followed by effect on iADL and bADL with the lowest impairment score [1]. The outcomes of these analyses are consistent with findings from previous studies, which showed that cognitive deficits predict subsequent functional deficits and suggest that slowing cognitive decline may lead to slowing decline in function [2,3].

Analysis Methods [1]
Data from patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease were pooled from two multicenter, double-blind, Phase 3 studies (EXPEDITION and EXPEDITION2), which were identical in design. Patients were randomized to infusions of 400-mg solanezumab (n = 654), or placebo (n = 660) every four weeks for 18 months. Cognitive and functional outcome measures were assessed using the ADAS-Cog and the ADCS-ADL, respectively. Post-hoc analyses included comparisons among normalized scales, correlations between outcome measures, and path analyses to model the relationship of treatment effect on cognition and function.

About Alzheimer’s Disease
Alzheimer's disease is a fatal illness that causes progressive decline in memory and other aspects of cognition [4]. It is the most common form of dementia, accounting for 60 to 80 percent of dementia cases. There are currently an estimated 44 million people living with dementia worldwide [5]. The number of people affected by dementia is expected to be more than 75 million in 2030 and 135 million in 2050 [6].

About Eli Lilly and Company
Lilly is a global healthcare leader that unites caring with discovery to make life better for people around the world. We were founded more than a century ago by a man committed to creating high-quality medicines that meet real needs, and today we remain true to that mission in all our work. Across the globe, Lilly employees work to discover and bring life-changing medicines to those who need them, improve the understanding and management of disease, and give back to communities through philanthropy and volunteerism. To learn more about Lilly, please visit us at www.lilly.com and http://newsroom.lilly.com/social-channels.

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements about solanezumab. This release reflects Lilly's current beliefs; however, as with any pharmaceutical product, there are substantial risks and uncertainties in the process of development and commercialization. There is no guarantee that future study results and patient experience will be consistent with study findings to date, or that solanezumab will be approved as a product or will prove to be commercially successful. For further discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties, see Lilly's filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Lilly undertakes no duty to update forward-looking statements.

About the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease (JAD)
The Journal of Alzheimer's Disease (http://www.j-alz.com) is an international multidisciplinary journal to facilitate progress in understanding the etiology, pathogenesis, epidemiology, genetics, behavior, treatment and psychology of Alzheimer's disease. The journal publishes research reports, reviews, short communications, book reviews, and letters-to-the-editor. Groundbreaking research that has appeared in the journal includes novel therapeutic targets, mechanisms of disease and clinical trial outcomes. The Journal of Alzheimer's Disease has an Impact Factor of 3.612 according to Thomson Reuters' 2013 Journal Citation Reports. It is ranked #22 on the Index Copernicus Top 100 Journal List. The Journal is published by IOS Press (www.iospress.com).

References
[1] Liu-Seifert H, Siemers E1, Sundell K, Price K, Han B, Selzler K, Aisen P, Cummings J, Raskin J, Mohs R (2015) Cognitive and functional decline and their relationship in patients with mild Alzheimer’s dementia. J Alzheimers Dis, doi: 10.3233/JAD-140792.
[2] Zahodne LB, Manly JJ, MacKay-Brandt A, Stern Y (2013) Cognitive declines precede and predict functional declines in aging and Alzheimer’s disease. PLOS One 8, e736453.
[3] Liu-Seifert H, Han B, Henley D, Siemers E, Cummings J, Raskin J, Price K, Sundell K, Selzler K, Aisen P, Mohs R (2014) Cognitive impairment precedes and predicts functional impairment in mild Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimers Dement 10 (Suppl), P203.
[4] Alzheimer’s Association (2014) Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures. http://www.alz.org/downloads/facts_figures_2014.pdf. Accessed November 6, 2014. [5] Alzheimer’s Association. What is Alzheimer’s? http://www.alz.org/alzheimers_disease_what_is_alzheimers.asp. Accessed on November 6, 2014. [6] Alzheimer’s Disease International. The Global Voice on Dementia. http://www.alz.co.uk/research/GlobalImpactDementia2013.pdf. Accessed November 6, 2014.

Contacts:
Nicole Hebert, Eli Lilly and Company, +1 (317) 701-9984, hebert_nicole@lilly.com
Daphne Watrin, IOS Press, +31 20 688 3355, d.watrin@iospress.nl