The Alzheimer's stocks riding on lecanemab's coat tails

Lecanemab's developers were among the biggest stock market beneficiaries of yesterday’s topline Clarity-D readout, but they were far from alone. Respectable gains were also seen from smaller Alzheimer’s players, though some jumps were easier to explain than others; Bioarctic has a real stake in lecanemab, for example. Prothena’s advance feels speculative considering its work in Alzheimer’s is so early. Bristol Myers Squibb exercised an option over PRX005 last year, cornering US rights to a Tau-directed MAb, while Prothena claims tenfold greater binding potency than aducanumab for PRX012. Vivoryon, formerly known as Probiodrug, has a novel approach that could yield data next year: its varoglutamstat is claimed to work by preventing the formation of N3pE amyloid, rather than trying to clear plaques from the brain like the MAbs. Other companies sit more on the fringes, incuding Cyclo, whose work is based on the theory that high cholesterol is a risk factor for Alzheimer’s, while Cognition says CT1812 is designed to displace toxic protein oligomers on neurons. Investors have a history of getting overexcited in Alzheimer's, of course, so further successes in this space are also likely to be widely felt.