New Alzheimer's drug

[Lilith7]

Looks promising so far, & slows decline.


https://www.bbc.com/news/health-66221116

[b]"A new drug, donanemab, is being hailed as a turning point in the fight against Alzheimer's, after a global trial confirms it slows cognitive decline.[/b]

The antibody medicine helps in the early stages of the disease by clearing a protein that builds up in the brains of people with this type of dementia.
Although not a cure, charities say the results in the journal JAMA mark a new era where Alzheimer's can be treated.

The UK's drugs watchdog has started assessing it for possible NHS use.
The drug works in Alzheimer's disease, not in other types of dementia, such as vascular dementia.

Mike Colley, who is 80, is one of only a few dozen patients in the UK to take part in the global trial. He and his family spoke exclusively with the BBC.

Mike gets an infusion each month at a clinic in London and says he is "one of the luckiest people you'll ever meet".

Donanemab, made by Eli Lilly, works in the same way as lecanemab - developed by companies Eisai and Biogen - [b]which created headlines around the world[/b] when it was proven to slow the disease.

Although extremely promising, these drugs are not risk-free treatments.
Brain swelling was a common side-effect in up to a third of patients in the donanemab trial. For most, this resolved without causing symptoms. However, two volunteers, and possibly a third, died as a result of dangerous swelling in the brain."