Alzheimer’s drug shows promise but needs more study for safety, researchers say

An experimental Alzheimer’s drug moderately slowed the effects of the disease but was linked to patient safety risks that warrant longer clinical trials, according to a study published late Tuesday.

The study, in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that a drug developed by Tokyo-based Eisai and Cambridge, Mass.-based Biogen reduced a key marker of Alzheimer’s disease, the amyloid beta protein, and that patients who received the drug performed better on cognitive and physical measures than a placebo group. The companies funded the study.