Timing TREM2 intervention in Alzheimer’s; plus Regeneron, Avacta and Atomwise

Inhibiting the microglial transmembrane protein TREM2, largely thought to be protective in Alzheimer’s disease, may, in fact, provide benefit in late-stage disease. Using antisense oligonucleotides against TREM2 from Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS), researchers at Washington University in St. Louis showed that reducing TREM2 in diseased mice at 10 months reversed β amyloid deposition, while earlier intervention at four or seven months had no effect. The findings, published in PNAS, indicate strategies to modulate TREM2 in Alzheimer’s should take timing into account, and raise the question whether they could have opposite effects at different disease stages.

At least one TREM2 intervention is in clinical testing: AL002, a mAb that enhances TREM2 activity, from Alector Inc. (NASDAQ:ALEC) and AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)...