Amgen And Novartis Announce Expanded Collaboration With Banner Alzheimer's Institute In Pioneering Prevention Program

Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN) and Novartis today announced an expanded collaboration with the Banner Alzheimer's Institute (BAI) to initiate a new trial – the Alzheimer's Prevention Initiative (API) Generation Study 2. This trial follows the launch of the Generation Study 1, and will determine whether the BACE1 inhibitor CNP520 can prevent or delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease symptoms in a high-risk population. BACE1 is an enzyme that plays an important role in the production of Amyloid β, a protein which accumulates in the brains of individuals with Alzheimer's disease years before clinical symptoms begin. More information on the sites participating in Generation Study 2 can be found at ClinicalTrials.gov and in the website www.GenerationProgram.com.

"As a leader in the challenging fight to unlock the biology of serious illnesses like Alzheimer's disease, we are pleased to support the launch of the Generation Study 2 with our partners at Novartis and Banner Alzheimer's Institute to further explore promising potential therapeutic options for this highly debilitating disease," said Sean E. Harper, M.D., executive vice president of Research and Development at Amgen. "Through the unique combination of genetic testing and counseling in cognitively healthy adults, the Generation Study 2 exhibits an innovative clinical approach that may offer insight towards Alzheimer's prevention for those at highest risk for developing the disease."

The Generation Study 2 started enrolling participants in the United States (U.S.) in August 2017, and will eventually include more than 180 sites in more than 20 countries around the world. This five-year study will recruit approximately 2,000 cognitively healthy participants, ages 60 to 75, who are at high risk of developing Alzheimer's based on their age and who carry either two copies of the apolipoprotein E (APOE) 4 gene or one copy of the gene with evidence of elevated brain amyloid. This is different from the Generation Study 1, which only targeted those who carry two copies of the APOE4 gene. APOE4 is the major genetic risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer's disease. Roughly one in four people carry a single copy of the APOE4 gene, but only about two percent of the world's population carry two copies.3 Eligible participants will be randomized to receive placebo or one of two doses of CNP520 (15 mg or 50 mg), co-developed by Amgen and Novartis.  

"This expanded collaboration builds upon the API Generation Study 1 which launched last year, and is another step in our effort to take clinical trials to a critical new stage," said Pierre N. Tariot, M.D., co-director of API and director of BAI, a division of Banner Health, one of the largest nonprofit healthcare systems in the U.S. "This approach continues to shift the Alzheimer's research paradigm from reversing disease damage to attacking its root cause b