08:42 AM EDT, 07/03/2024 (MT Newswires) -- IntelGenx Technologies (IGX.TO) said Wednesday that its subsidiary IntelGenx completed the BUENA Alzheimer's disease (AD) study that used the Montelukast (MTK) drug.

IntelGenx is repurposing MTK, a treatment for asthma and seasonal allergic rhinitis, to treat neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases.

The study enrolled 59 adults with mild to moderate severity AD, of which 52 completed 26 weeks treatment with "standard of care" cholinesterase inhibitors and MTK buccal film or cholinesterase inhibitors and placebo.

The company said summary study results showed that MTK indicated no benefit to general cognition compared to changes under placebo.

But according to data from neuropsychological tests analyzed separately for each dose, adults with AD who received at least 80% of 30-mg twice-daily doses of MTK showed a statistically significant improvement in general cognition compared to placebo.

"This preliminary analysis suggests that treatment with MTK 30-mg twice-daily, based on the 'per treatment' analyses (treatment compliers), was associated with an experimentally important benefit to cognition," said Paul Maruff, chief innovation officer at Cogstate, a neuroscience company.