ClinicalTrials.gg
RecruitingNCT07758595Updated Aug 20, 2026

A Study to Evaluate the Safety, Pharmacokinetics, and Pharmacodynamics of DNL921 in Healthy Participants and Participants With Alzheimer's Disease

A Phase 1 interventional study of DNL921 and Placebo in Alzheimer's Disease and Healthy Participants, sponsored by Denali Therapeutics Inc.. Recruiting at 1 site in United Kingdom. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 75 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-08-20.

Sponsored by Denali Therapeutics Inc. · Phase 1, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Started Aug 2026; still recruiting 3 months later.
Phase
Phase 1
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
178
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 75 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This is a Phase 1/1b, multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study to evaluate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics (PK), and pharmacodynamics (PD) of single and multiple doses of DNL921 in healthy participants and participants with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The principal aim of this study is to obtain safety and tolerability data. This information, together with PK and PD data, will inform dose selection and design of future studies.

Read the detailed description

This clinical trial information was submitted voluntarily under the applicable law and, therefore, certain submission deadlines may not apply. (That is, clinical trial information for this applicable clinical trial was submitted under section 402(j)(4)(A) of the Public Health Service Act and 42 CFR 11.60 and is not subject to the deadlines established by sections 402(j)(2) and (3) of the Public Health Service Act or 42 CFR 11.24 and 11.44.).

02

Conditions studied

  • Alzheimer's Disease
  • Healthy Participants

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03

In context

Alzheimer Disease

3,965 studies on the registry are indexed under Alzheimer Disease; 926 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 178 is above the median of 70 across 3,019 interventional studies indexed under Alzheimer Disease.

Browse Alzheimer Disease studies →

Lead sponsor

Denali Therapeutics Inc. is the lead sponsor of 19 studies on the registry; 5 are open to participants now.

Of its 6 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 0 (0%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 75 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Eligibility criteria

Key Inclusion Criteria (Healthy Participants):

  • Are male or female of non- and are aged 18 through 60 years at the time of screening
  • Have a of 18 through 32 kg/m2 and a body weight of at least 50 kg
  • For female participants: Are of non-childbearing potential
  • For male participants: Are surgically sterile by bilateral orchidectomy, or are abstinent, or agree to use two acceptable forms of

Key Exclusion Criteria (Healthy Participants):

  • Have any history of neurological, psychiatric, endocrine, pulmonary, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, hepatic, pancreatic, renal, metabolic, hematological, immunological, or allergic disease, or other major disorders
  • Have a positive serum pregnancy test or are currently lactating or breastfeeding
  • Have been hospitalized during the 4 weeks prior to screening

Key Inclusion Criteria (Participants with AD):

  • Are male or female of non-childbearing potential and aged 50 to 75 years at the time of screening
  • Have a BMI between 18 and 32 kg/m2 and a body weight of at least 45 kg
  • Have a diagnosis of probable mild to moderate AD dementia based on NIA AA 2011 criteria, including amnestic or nonamnestic presentation at screening or prodromal AD (consistent with the NIA-AA diagnostic criteria and guidelines for mild cognitive impairment due to AD)
  • Have supportive evidence of AD pathology by the following:

    • Plasma ptau217/Abeta42 positive
    • Positive amyloid PET scan
  • For female participants: Are of non-childbearing potential
  • For male participants: Are surgically sterile by bilateral orchidectomy, or are abstinent, or agree to use two acceptable forms of contraception

Key Exclusion Criteria (Participants with AD):

  • Have other clinically significant neurological or cognitive disorders affecting the CNS, as determined by the investigator, other than AD
  • Have specific psychiatric conditions
  • Have any history of unstable or poorly controlled endocrine, pulmonary, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, hepatic, hematological, or other significant medical condition that, in the opinion of the investigator, may interfere with the completion or interpretation of study assessment
  • Have had a within 5 years before screening, except fully resected basal cell carcinoma or other malignancies treated with curative intent (such as prostate cancer) at low risk of recurrence
  • Have a positive serum pregnancy test or are currently lactating or breastfeeding
  • Have been hospitalized during the 4 weeks prior to screening
  • Have had previous anti-amyloid or anti-tau immunotherapy (including active immunization) or have participated in experimental gene therapy or cell therapy at any time
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(5)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Childbearing potential

Able to become pregnant: from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery (removal of the womb, or of both ovaries or both fallopian tubes).

Criteria for people of childbearing potential usually ask for a negative pregnancy test and for contraception during the study and for a time after it.

BMI (body mass index)

Weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared. Example: 70 kg and 1.75 m gives 70 ÷ (1.75 × 1.75) ≈ 22.9.

What counts as overweight or obesity differs between countries (some use lower cut-offs), so go by the range the study states.

Contraception

Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.

Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.

Clinically significant

Judged by the study doctor to matter for your health or for the study. It is a doctor’s decision, so ask the study team if you are unsure whether something counts.

Cancer (malignancy)

Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.

Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 1
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Sequential assignment
Masking
Double (Participant, Investigator)
Enrollment
178 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Experimental Arm

    Drug: DNL921

  • Placebo comparator
    Placebo Arm

    Drug: Placebo

Interventions

  • DrugDNL921

    Single or multiple doses

  • DrugPlacebo

    Single or multiple doses matched to experimental treatment

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Part A: Incidence and severity of treatment-emergent averse events (TEAEs)

    Time frame: 46 days

  2. Parts B and C: Incidence and severity of TEAEs in participants with AD

    Time frame: 242 days

Secondary outcomes

  1. PK Parameter: Maximum concentration (Cmax) of DNL921 in serum

    Time frame: Up to 242 Days

  2. PK Parameter: Time to reach maximum concentration (tmax) of DNL921 in serum

    Time frame: Up to 242 Days

  3. PK Parameter: Area under the concentration-time curve (AUC) from time zero to time of last measurable concentration (AUClast) of DNL921 in serum

    Time frame: Up to 242 Days

  4. Part A: PK Parameter: AUC from time zero to infinity of DNL921 in serum

    Time frame: 46 Days

  5. PK Parameter: Elimination half-life (t1/2) of DNL921 in serum

    Time frame: Up to 242 Days

  6. Parts B and C: PK Parameter: Time to reach minimum concentration (Cmin) of DNL921 in serum

    Time frame: 242 Days

  7. Parts B and C: PK Parameter: AUC during a dosing interval (AUCtau) of DNL921 in serum

    Time frame: 242 Days

  8. Parts B and C: PK Parameter: Accumulation ratio of DNL921 in serum

    Time frame: 242 Days

  9. Parts B and C: Change from baseline in brain amyloid load at Weeks 12 and 28 as measured by amyloid PET scan

    Time frame: 28 Weeks

  10. Parts B and C: Amyloid clearance at Weeks 12 and 28 as measured by amyloid PET scan

    Time frame: 28 Weeks

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
  • Clinical Site(s)
    Manchester, United Kingdom
    Recruiting
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Started Aug 2026 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Apr 2030, 44 months after the start.

Of 160 industry-sponsored phase 1 interventional studies under Alzheimer Disease, half reached primary completion within 12 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 5 and three quarters within 23. This study's planned 44 months is above that.

Counting every sponsor, half of 233 studies reached it within 18 months; a quarter within 7 and three quarters within 39.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Aug 6, 2026
First posted
Aug 11, 2026
StartActual
Aug 7, 2026
Primary completionEst.
Apr 2030
CompletionEst.
Apr 2030
Last update
Aug 20, 2026
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Aug 20, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT07758595
Lead sponsor
Denali Therapeutics Inc.
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Aug 11, 2026
Start date
Aug 7, 2026
Primary completion
Apr 2030 (estimated)
Completion
Apr 2030 (estimated)
Last update
Aug 20, 2026

Study contacts

Clinical Trials at Denali Therapeutics
Contact
clinical-trials@dnli.com
Email:
Medical Monitor
study director · Denali Therapeutics Inc.

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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