Preliminary study: Drug may be safe for people with mild cognitive impairment, mild dementia

An experimental new drug for mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's-related mild dementia is safe and may be linked to executive function, thinking and memory skills, a small pilot study shows.

"Cognitive impairment is often one of the early signs of Alzheimer's disease, can be very difficult for patients and their families, and represents a huge area of ​​unmet medical need," said study author Aaron Koenig, MD, who is an MD from Sage Therapeutics, Cambridge, MA

The study involved 26 people with an average age of 67

The study was primarily designed to collect data on the safety of the drug

One month later, the participants' cognitive test scores improved by an average of 2.

Some participants also improved in assessments of ability to complete daily activities, especially complex activities such as using computers, doing housework and managing medication, Koenig said

"If replicated in future studies, these improvements suggest that the drug may ultimately provide meaningful benefits in people's daily lives," Koenig said

SAGE-718 is a drug known as a positive allosteric modulator of the n-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor

Limitations of the study include its small size and the fact that participants and researchers knew the drugs being used, which could lead to bias

This research was supported by Sage Therapeutics

Learn more about brain health at BrainandLife.

When you post about this research on social media, we encourage you to use the hashtag #AANAM at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology

The American Academy of Neurology is the world's largest association of neurologists and neuroscience professionals, with more than 38,000 members