The week after seeing its partner Roche cut and run, UCB has reported the failure of its anti-tau antibody bepranemab to improve cognition and function in people with early Alzheimer’s disease. But UCB looked past the primary endpoint miss and focused on other results that left it “deeply encouraged” by the trial. Roche licensed bepranemab for $120 million upfront in 2020 but opted against taking over development when UCB finished a proof-of-concept study in Alzheimer’s. UCB presented data from the phase 2a trial at the 2024 Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s Disease meeting in Madrid this week, providing a snapshot of what Roche left behind—and why the Belgian drugmaker believes bepranemab may have a future. Investigators randomized 466 patients to receive one of two doses of bepranemab or placebo. After 80 weeks, patients on the study drug did no better on the CDR-SB measure of cognition and function than their counterparts on placebo, causing the trial to miss its primary endpoint. Yet, Alistair Henry, Ph.D., chief scientific officer at UCB, said in a statement that the team “is deeply encouraged by the proof-of-concept data for bepranemab,” adding that the findings strengthen his “belief in the value of targeting the mid-region of tau as an important strategy in altering the trajectory of the disease.”

Full report : UCB’s tau drug flunks phase 2 Alzheimer’s trial days after Roche’s exit from $120M bet.