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An experimental drug seems to sluggish reminiscence loss. Researchers say folks with early Alzheimer’s who received the drug for 18 months skilled 27% much less cognitive decline than individuals who received a placebo.
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
In a big new examine, an experimental Alzheimer’s drug appeared to decelerate the lethal illness. But as NPR’s Jon Hamilton stories, the drug will not be a remedy and it carries some dangers.
JON HAMILTON, BYLINE: The examine’s outcomes have been introduced Tuesday on the Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s Disease assembly in San Francisco. They have been additionally revealed on-line in The New England Journal of Medicine. During the assembly’s opening session, Dr. Christopher Van Dyck of Yale University described the results of the drug lecanemab in folks with early Alzheimer’s.
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CHRISTOPHER VAN DYCK: Lecanemab diminished medical decline by 27%.
HAMILTON: The examine included almost 1,800 folks. Half received the drug. Half received a placebo. Van Dyke, the lead creator, famous that even individuals who received the drug skilled declines in reminiscence and considering.
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VAN DYCK: In the placebo group, folks declined by 1.66 factors over the course of 18 months. The actively handled group declines by 1.21.
HAMILTON: A distinction of lower than half a degree on a dementia scale that runs from 0 to 18. Dr. Madhav Thambisetty, a neurologist who was not concerned within the examine, says that is not a lot.
MADHAV THAMBISETTY: It’s a really small impact. And from my perspective as a doctor caring for Alzheimer’s sufferers, it is not possible that these variations are going to be noticeable by particular person sufferers of their on a regular basis lives.
HAMILTON: Thambisetty is a senior investigator on the National Institutes of Health, although his views on the drug are purely his personal. Thambisetty is worried that lecanemab’s modest profit might not outweigh its dangers.
THAMBISETTY: This drug, like different medicine in the identical class, will not be a benign drug. It’s related to unwanted effects.
HAMILTON: Like swelling and bleeding within the mind. At the assembly, although, Dr. Marwan Sabbagh of the Barrow Alzheimer’s Institute (ph) downplayed these unwanted effects.
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MARWAN SABBAGH: I do know there’s been lots of dialogue, lots of buzz, lots of power round safety-related points.
HAMILTON: Lecanemab removes a substance known as amyloid from the mind. This elimination course of could cause extra fluid or small hemorrhages. And on an MRI scan, that exhibits up as one thing known as ARIA or amyloid-related imaging abnormalities. About 20% of people that received lecanemab had ARIA. But Sabbagh says that is not trigger for alarm.
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SABBAGH: The overwhelming majority of the ARIA occasions have been delicate or average.
HAMILTON: Sabbagh says the abnormalities normally disappeared after a couple of remedies and infrequently went unnoticed by sufferers.
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SABBAGH: They have been symptomatic lower than 3% of the time, and it will embrace headache, visible disturbance and a few confusion.
HAMILTON: The dangers are acceptable to Mike Zuendel. He’s 68 and works as an funding advisor in Telluride, Colo. He’s additionally been identified with delicate cognitive impairment, an early stage of Alzheimer’s.
MIKE ZUENDEL: I’m an individual dwelling with a progressive and deadly illness. I should not have time to attend for the proper analysis examine.
HAMILTON: Zuendel is at the moment taking a unique amyloid drug known as Aduhelm. It was permitted in 2021 regardless of conflicting proof about whether or not it helps sufferers. Zuendel says he thinks Aduhelm is maintaining his reminiscence and considering issues from getting worse. But he says lecanemab might show to be a greater choice.
ZUENDEL: The outcomes are extraordinarily optimistic and, in my thoughts, has handed all security necessities. And I’m extraordinarily hopeful that the FDA will approve it.
HAMILTON: The Food and Drug Administration is predicted to decide on lecanemab early subsequent yr.
Jon Hamilton, NPR News.
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