Benzbromarone as a Novel Candidate for Preventing Alzheimer's Disease: Evidence From Real-World Data Screening and in...

Drug development for Alzheimer's disease (AD) remains challenging, with only a 0.4% success rate from Phase I trials to regulatory approval. Drug repositioning leverages existing approved drugs to identify promising drug alternatives, particularly when combined with real-world data (RWD) and target trial emulation. In this study, we comprehensively screened 1,241 approved drugs using a large-scale Japanese claims database (n = 2,090,465; 2005-2023). We identified patients newly prescribed a study drug and applied an active-comparator, new-user design. We used propensity score-based inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) to balance the covariates. The primary outcome was incident AD, defined using ICD-10 codes (F00 and G30). We estimated cumulative incidence using IPTW-adjusted Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox proportional hazards models and conducted sensitivity analyses using Fine-Gray competing risk models, empirical calibration with negative control outcomes, and E-value estimation. We performed in vitro validation using Aβ-Tet-ON SH-SY5Y cells and quantified Aβ expression using western blotting. Benzbromarone, a uricosuric agent, was associated with a decreased risk of AD onset (adjusted HR: 0.54, 95% CI: 0.41-0.71, p < 0.05 post-FDR correction); this association remained robust across sensitivity analyses. In vitro, benzbromarone reduced Aβ protein expression in SH-SY5Y cells in a dose-dependent manner, even following transcriptional blockade, suggesting a posttranscriptional regulatory mechanism. In conclusion, using a combined approach of RWD-based pharmacoepidemiology and in vitro validation, we identified benzbromarone as a novel candidate potentially associated with reduced AD risk. Our findings highlight the potential of drug repositioning strategies to accelerate AD drug discovery, promoting further mechanistic and clinical investigations.