New Drug Slows the Cognitive Decline in Alzheimer's Patients
Alzheimer's disease is a devastating
condition that affects millions of people every year. Unfortunately, no
cure for the condition exists at the moment, but medication can help
temporarily improve the symptoms. Over the last many years, various
scientists and researchers have been trying hard to come up with ways to
help Alzheimer's patients. A new development in this regard has given
Alzheimer's patients and their families a glimmer of hope.
A small study released by a drug company
named Eli Lilly shows that the experimental drug donanemab may
significantly slow down cognitive decline in Alzheimer's patients. The
two-year study, the findings of which were published in the New England
Journal of Medicine recently, followed 257 patients that exhibited early
symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. 131 of these patients received
donanemab and the remaining 126 received a placebo once a month for up
to 72 weeks.
The results show that the drug slowed
cognitive decline by 32% on a composite measure of cognition and
function in comparison to those who received the placebo. Furthermore,
the treatment completely removed amyloid from the brains of most
patients who received it. Amyloid is a substance that forms plaques in
the brain and is considered to be the key factor in the worsening of
Alzheimer’s disease. According to the researchers, this is the first
time a drug of this kind has had positive results in early-stage trials.
"This is the first late-stage study in
Alzheimer's disease to meet its primary endpoint at the primary
analysis. Donanemab has the potential to become a very important
treatment for Alzheimer's disease," said in a statement Daniel
Skovronsky, M.D., Ph.D., Lilly's chief scientific officer and president
of Lilly Research Laboratories.
"We were pleased to see not only slowing of cognitive and functional
decline but also very substantial clearance of amyloid plaques and
slowing of spread of tau pathology. The constellation of clinical and
biomarker results indicates the potential for long-term disease
modification. We are grateful to the patients, caregivers, and
investigators who participated in this landmark study,” they added.
The side-effects of the drug included brain swelling that was spotted on
imaging scans, along with drug-infusion reactions and nausea.
This new drug can be a game-changer in
Alzheimer’s treatment
Over the past many years, many researchers have tried to develop drugs
that could remove amyloid from Alzheimer’s patients' brains. This is the
first one that is showing some real promise.
“We slowed the disease down by about a third,” he said. “In an 18-month
study, we’ve given them six months of less decline. Of course, it’s a
10-year disease. The question is, over 10 years, could you give them
back three years?” said Daniel Skovronsky.
The researchers said that while they were happy with the results, they
were hoping that donanemab would slow patients’ decline by 50%. Even so,
this new drug could become a game-changer in anti-amyloid therapies.
Another key highlight of the landmark study
was that, apart from reducing the amount of amyloid deposition in
Alzheimer's patients, the drug also slowed down the clinical progression
of the disease. This indicates that this could indeed be a
disease-modifying therapy.
While more testing in other trials would be needed to confirm the claims
of the study, it has certainly offered great promise. Even doctors and
scientists who weren’t involved in the study believe that it could lead
to something game-changing, given the great number of previous
Alzheimer’s trial failures.
However, a few questions about the drug
still need to be answered. For example, does its benefit last over the
long term? Will there be more side-effects if the drug is taken for a
long time? And will the modest decline be considered truly meaningful to
the patients and caregivers?
What we really need is to follow the patients taking the drug for a
longer time and analyze the results. But this study has certainly
offered a beacon of hope where there was none.