Alzheimer’s used to be a disease that could not be cured. However, the results of the second new drug against Alzheimer’s will be announced on Monday and that seems to herald a new era, says neurologist Niels Prins, director of the Brain Research Center. More scientists agree that the drugs give hope.
“It will be possible to combat the disease, which has never happened before in Alzheimer’s,” says Prins. These two medications both need to be given through an IV. They are expensive, the side effects can be quite serious and an infusion is quite drastic, Prins admits. That’s why he talks about a ‘new era’. He expects that more and more medicines will become available, including an Alzheimer’s pill, for example, with fewer side effects.
The Brain Research Center, among others, conducts research into the medication. In addition, both doctor and patient do not know whether the drug they are receiving or administering is the real thing or a placebo. Prince therefore does not know exactly what the investigation will reveal. However, a press release from pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Company in May explained that 47 percent of the participants who received the drug Donanemab showed no deterioration in the brain after a year. This is in contrast to 29 percent of the participants who took a placebo and who also showed no deterioration after one year.
‘Medicines slow down the decline’
There is also a lot of criticism on Alzheimer’s drugs. With regard to the drug Lecanemab, experts stated in de Volkskrant that it is unclear whether a patient really notices a difference. Neurologists also wrote in NRC last Friday that the medicines are not a panacea. “Despite this cleaned brain, the disease continues to proliferate and patients end up in the nursing home,” they wrote on the opinion page.
Prins acknowledges that patients and their loved ones will not notice the difference. “The drugs slow down the decline, they don’t suddenly start remembering things better,” he explains. He points to the difference between the treated group and the untreated group: “The untreated group deteriorates faster.” According to him, that 47 percent is also very valuable. “If we express that in years, you may get years more health in return.”
The AAIC International Alzheimer’s Congress will take place this week in Amsterdam. Usually this congress is in the United States. There it will be about this drug and also about other studies into Alzheimer’s.
Incidentally, the European regulator EMA has yet to consider whether Alzheimer’s drugs such as Lecanemab and Donanemab will be allowed on the European market.
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By: Editorial
2023-07-15 11:41:00
#Neurologist #Drugs #Alzheimers #usher #era
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