The experimental drug – donanemab – developed by Eli Lilly appears to slow cognitive decline by 35% in people with Alzheimer’s disease and was more effective than a placebo. LSU Pennington BioMedical Research Center Professor Dr. Owen Carmichael says the medication breaks up the sticky amyloid plaques that increase cognitive decline in the brain.
“In Alzheimer’s disease, your immune system just sits idly by while this stuff builds up and doesn’t know it should be directly attacking it. So this drug is trying to put out the “wanted poster” and tell the immune system to attack the stuff.”
The last drug to be approved for Alzheimer’s was in 2004. The study evaluated the drug in 552 patients with high levels of tau and found that when both groups were combined, donanemab slowed progression by 29% based on the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale. Carmichael says the study also showed a 40% less decline to perform activities of daily living.
“If we can weigh the risk of the drug against the ability to maintain that independent sort of tasks for a longer period of time, then that’s going to take conversation between the patient and the physician.”
Experts say this is the strongest evidence yet that removing sticky amyloid plaques from the brain benefits with the fatal disease.
“This donanemab is the third such drug in a new crop of highly promising therapies.”
But there are concerning side effects, like brain swelling and hemorrhaging.
Comments