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Breakthrough £90,000 Alzheimer's drugs unlikely to benefit patients, report suggests
The review found the drugs cleared amyloid but cut cognitive decline only slightly, with 20,342 patients studied across 17 trials.
- On Thursday, a major Cochrane review found that anti-amyloid drugs lecanemab and donanemab make "no meaningful difference to patients" while increasing risks of brain swelling and bleeding, analyzing 17 trials involving more than 20,000 people with early dementia.
- After decades of costly research, both drugs received approval from the United States and European Union based on the theory that removing amyloid plaque buildup could slow Alzheimer's progression.
- Study co-author Edo Richard of Radboud University Medical Centre stated the findings refuted the amyloid hypothesis, describing treatment effects as "trivial" and "far below the minimal effect that's needed to be noticeable at all for patients and caregivers" after 18 months.
- British biologist John Hardy called the review a "silly paper which should not have been published," while Dr Richard Oakley of the Alzheimer's Society argued conclusions "look bleaker than it really is" by combining failed drugs with approved treatments; UK and France health services refused coverage.
- Australian neuroscientist Bryce Vissel cautioned the review "does not rule out future amyloid-directed therapies," while Richard expressed hope that efforts targeting other mechanisms could yield more effective treatments despite the 18-month trial window being relatively short for a slowly progressive condition.
83 Articles
83 Articles
Breakthrough Alzheimer’s drugs are not effective, researchers find
A review of anti-amyloid drugs, once hailed as a breakthrough in Alzheimer’s treatment, suggested they had no clinically meaningful effect. Plaques of malformed amyloid proteins form in Alzheimer’s patients’ brains, and new drugs such as aducanumab and lecanemab have targeted those proteins on the assumption that they cause the disease. The Cochrane review found that while the drugs’ effect was statistically detectable, it would likely not be no…
'Absent or trivial' effects: Anti-amyloid Alzheimer's drugs called into question once again
Top drugmakers have spent more than a decade investigating and advancing anti-amyloid Alzheimer's medicines in clinical studies, generating enough evidence to support FDA approvals for three of them so far. But a new analysis throws more cold water on the treatment approach after years of…
Alzheimer's Drug Review Ignites Backlash From Experts
(MedPage Today) -- A systematic review suggested that drugs targeting amyloid beta appeared to have no clinically meaningful positive effects, sparking swift backlash from Alzheimer's disease experts. The review assessed 17 trials conducted between...
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