On 10 May, the biopharmaceutical company Cassava Sciences announced the initiation of a Cognition Maintenance Study (CMS) to evaluate simufilam in people with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Simufilam is a small molecule drug targeting the altered form of filamin A found in the AD brain to restore its normal shape and function.
Cassava Sciences is currently evaluating the long-term safety and tolerability of simufilam in a one-year and open-label study in people with mild-to-moderate AD. The new CMS study is a double-blind, multi-center, randomised and placebo-controlled study with people with mild-to-moderate AD who have completed at least one year of open-label treatment with simufilam. A group of participants will continue to receive simufilam and the other group will receive placebo. This study is aiming to evaluate the changes in cognition over six months in participants who continue treatment with simufilam versus those who stop treatment. The company plans to recruit 100 participants in the US and Canada. In addition, Cassava Sciences plans to initiate a Phase III clinical program with sumifilam in AD in 2021.
