Shafaqna Health: Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative condition marked by a gradual, irreversible decline in memory, thinking, and the ability to perform daily tasks. Aging is the primary risk factor, and with a rapidly aging population, Alzheimer’s has become a public health crisis.
In 2019, 57 million people worldwide were living with Alzheimer’s, a figure projected to reach 153 million by 2050. This highlights the urgent need for treatments that can slow the progression of the disease and produce lasting changes.
Until recently, developing disease-modifying therapies for Alzheimer’s had been unsuccessful, with most research focusing on the beta-amyloid protein, whose abnormal accumulation is believed to contribute to the disease.
Newly Approved Alzheimer’s Drugs: Breakthrough or Slow Start?
Aducanumab, an antibody targeting amyloid-beta deposits, received FDA approval in 2021 as the first disease-modifying therapy for Alzheimer’s. However, clinical trials did not show consistent cognitive improvements, prompting Biogen, the manufacturer, to announce plans to eventually stop its sales.
Following aducanumab, two other anti-amyloid antibodies, Biogen’s lecanemab and Eli Lilly’s donanemab, have shown the ability to slow cognitive decline in early-stage Alzheimer’s patients during phase 3 trials and have received FDA approval. This has been viewed as a breakthrough after decades of unsuccessful research.
However, some experts have raised concerns about the modest benefits of these therapies, their safety risks, and cost-effectiveness.
Dr. Dag Aarsland, a professor of old age psychiatry at King’s College London, emphasized the importance of these new developments, stating that despite clinical, societal, and healthcare challenges, the evidence shows it is possible to slow disease progression. Similarly, Dr. Paresh Malhotra, a professor of clinical neurology at Imperial College London, noted that while these therapies offer modest benefits, they represent the first treatments targeting a key mechanism of Alzheimer’s progression. Their approval may accelerate further treatment development and transform clinical care for the disease, the most common cause of dementia globally.