Alzheimer’s disease is a heartbreaking reality that steals away any hope of recovery. There is currently no cure for the progressive neurological disorder. However, a new experimental drug is showing hope for slowing the rate of decline in Alzheimer’s patients. The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine and noted that the experimental drug, called lecanumab, is an antibody that targets clumps of amyloid proteins associated with the disease. Japanese drugmaker Eisai and their American partner Biogen announced that the drug appeared to be working.
Research noted that the humanized IgG1 monoclonal antibody lecanumab binds with high affinity to amyloid-beta soluble protofibrils. It is being tested on patients with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.
A multicenter, double-blind, phase 3 trial was conducted over the course of 18 months. It included patients aged 50 to 90 years with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease with evidence of amyloid by positron-emission tomography (PET) or cerebrospinal fluid testing. This meant that he had mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease. Patients were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive lecanimab (10 mg per kg of body weight every 2 weeks) or a placebo.
According to the Better Health Channel, a placebo is “a treatment that appears to be real, but is designed to have no medical benefit.”
The study noted that “lecanumab resulted in infusion-related reactions in 26.4% of participants and amyloid-related imaging abnormalities with edema or effusion in 12.6%.”
It is concluded that the drug reduces markers of amyloid in early Alzheimer’s disease. As a result, there was a marginally smaller decline in measures of cognition and function compared to placebo at 18 months. The study also noted that longer trials are needed to determine the efficacy and safety of lecanumab in early Alzheimer’s disease.
If lecanumab is approved as a treatment plan, it will be a watershed moment in medicine. Because there is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease yet. While medication is available that can ease the symptoms, this is only temporary.
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