“It will be possible to prevent the disease, which has never happened before in Alzheimer’s,” says Prins, director of the Brain Research Center.
Drip
The two drugs must both be administered 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.
Research
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.
Criticism
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 clean 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.”
Congress
The AAIC International Alzheimer’s Congress will take place this week in Amsterdam. Usually this congress is in the United States. During the meeting, this drug and other studies into Alzheimer’s will be discussed.
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.
2023-07-15 05:55:16
#Enthusiasm #doubt #Alzheimers #drugs
